Labels
by Kiri Ketchup
Summary: There's the geeks, chavs, Gangasta's, Emo's and Scene's .So what am i. Its simple i'm every single one of them. NxM. Written by Bring.Solin.The.Horizon.
1. The Label School

I was standing outside the school.

"This place looks like a shit hole!" I thought out loud.

"BOO!" a strange voice from behind yelled.

It was unexpected so I screamed loudly; to my embarrassment every one turned and stared. (A/N tut tut Mikan… LAMEASS Excuse!)

I usually love attention but for some reason there eyes were wide and unwelcoming.

I've never felt so unwanted.

I just wanted the ground to swallow me up…wait is that possible? I wonder what I taste like…How do Cannibals feel? What if I was a Cannibal in my past life…I wander how many people I'd have eaten? …

"HELLO!" came the voice again, interrupting my train of thought

"Huh?" I asked turning to see a boy with humongous glasses, uncountable spots and ugly, greasy hair; His shirt was tucked into his trousers… Oh My God!!

"Oi, move it!" came a deep, luring voice.

My hero! I thought smiling secretly to myself.

"I'd like to be the first to welco- ah…" someone pulled him out of the way while another tugged on my arm, "whoa, whoa just stop!" I screamed… oops I thought as they all glared at me.

Silence.

"So what are you then?" asked someone cutting off the tension.

"Emmmm…cake?" I said unthinkingly… damn it I'm such an idiot!

"No I mean are you Emo, gangster, Chav etc…"

"Am I what?" I asked confused.

It just occurred to me that the whole school had formed a circle around me.

They were in five groups. They were all different but… somehow all the same.

I could feel all there eyes on me, burning through me and I could hear faint whispers, I couldn't tell were they were coming from.

I felt so exposed.

"Ahem!" a voice came and everyone instantly fell silent.

A guy stepped forward… a kind of hot guy…no, wait, I take that back, a REALLY hot guy.

He had deep red, hypnotic eyes and freshly tanned skin, with hard muscles that were visible even through the t-shirt he wore.

Which by the way was customised and most of the buttons were undone.

I could feel my eyes widening at their own accord "Holy Shit. Damn it!" my face fell in my hands, I walked over to an expensive looking car (A/N she just had to go to the most expensive looking car T.T).

I banged my head on it three times repeating "stupid, stupid girl!" When I looked up, I was horrified to see that I had dented the bonnet of the car.

"Your paying for that you know" he said in an oh-so-tempting voice.

I just stared blankly, he chuckled "you know you could get brain damage for that, but not that anyone would notice, I mean come on your so stupid!" he said playing up to the crowd.

He got the reaction he craved as he walked with his posse.

I narrowed my eyes at him.

Everyone was laughing at me.

I pulled out my book, "Hey, wait what's your name?" I called.

Before I could even manage to open it he turned to face me, "Hyuuga, Natsume Hyuuga" he said raising his eyebrows James Bond style.

"Natsu…..me……..Hyu…u…..ga" I said as I wrote his name.

I shoved it in his face.

"Look, your name is in my black book!!" *Evil Laugh *.

He looked at me with mock concern.

He put his hand on my shoulder and put on a caring face.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"I'm fine, why wouldn't I be? … Wait, you care? Aww thanks!" I said hugging him.

"Whoa! Hey," he said pulling me back, "Sarcasm" he said rolling his eyes.

"I knew that!" I said embarrassed.

I was sure my tomato red face gave me away though.

"So what are you then?" a spiky haired guy asked.

God what is it with these people?

"I DON'T FUCKING KNOW!" I cried. "Why are you all harassing me?" I asked melodramatically through fake sobs.

"Well you all know what this means" said Natsume (I remembered his name! Woo go me!)

"What does this mean?" I asked.

"I was getting to that" Natsume replied impatiently.

"Keep your wig on!" I said.

He gave me a cold glare while his friends sniggered. "Ooh lets make it sure it's real!" said one of his friends tugging on his hair gently.

"Grrrr!" he growled, his eyes burning red.

"AWWW! He looks so cute when his angry!" I said squigging his cheeks.

His eyes softened while a vein stuck out of his forehead.

"…Anyway…. This calls for… drum roll please".

Immediately a tonne of girls dropped to the floor and banged on the ground.

He grinned triumphantly and crossed his arms.

Cocky Bastard!

He cleared his throat the girls stopped banging immediately.

"The Gakuen Alice Academy will hold 'the label tests'… for my girl" he said winking at me.

"Who's your girl?" I asked confused looking behind.

_Idiot._


	2. Info On The Gangs

Hey!

Just a bit of info for the people that are lost LOL!!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Gangsters – Natsume + co

Well… you should know what gangsters are really…

Natsume is highly respected by all the gangs in the school and is also the hottest boy in the entire school.

Likes: Chavs are okay-ish

Hates: Emos, Geeks

Chavs – Luna + Posse-Very bitchy group… (Being scene they totally piss me off and I feel like murdering them like bangbang die twats!!...aha chavs, glorious chavs… What are we gonna do with them?...)

Likes: Gangsters (because they are hot)

Hates: emos, scenes, geeks

Scene kids (the best group XD) – Anna, Nonoko etc

Very bright, people can be very dirty minded, and bubbly. Scene has been called the "preppy emo". They tend to be loud and generally have a good time. They have a lot of confidence. They take a lot of pictures of themselves. They wear incredibly skinny jeans, too tight shirts, and eyeliner. Scene kids backcomb their hair a lot. The guys usually have a long fringe. The girls usually have bright make-up. They love EVERYTHING in day-glow colours. They also listen to hardcore music and love bands that nobody else has ever heard of. A big scene must have is lip rings. Scene kids are sometimes confused with emo kids, there is a difference though. Scene kids wear a lot of bright neon colours. They also usually have "scene names" they use their first name and put another word behind it like "Marcus Massacre" or "" or Kiki Kannibal" probably the most popular name-ending is "suicide". Scene kids follow their leader who is usually a girl, she is called the "scene queen" and she starts all of the trends.

Likes: no other group in particular

Hates: Chavs and geeks.

Emos – Kei and Hotaru etc

Very dark and mysterious people, dislikes everyone, respects the gangsters and envy the scenes.

HATES: Chavs!!!

Geeks – Yuu etc

We all know what the geeks are like…

Hates: Everybody because everybody is mean to them (shame)

Likes: Emos because although they don't stick up for them when they are being bullied or whatever, they're not mean to them and don't bully them.


	3. Chav Test

Hey readers =]

Its taking over and finishing this story for all you peeps who are desperate to read on! (God, am I like a life savour of what?!?) LOL Joke! XD

Anyways hope u enjoy don't forget to leave loads of reviews!!

By the way, just a warning: I tend to make up words sometimes LOL

Thanks kthxbai

P.S I know it sucks to promote but I can't help myself! go on my profile- . and read my stories too…That's all for now thanks!

_Oh my God._

"This is ridiculous! I'm not doing it. No way" I said folding my arms across my chest. "Well, see you don't really have a choice" said the voice that had been the source of my irritation since I got to this damned school-Natsume. I glared at him silently pleading. "No." I said as firmly as I could, though it was hard to keep a straight face.

"But you look so hot in those tracksuit bottoms" he said "You're gonna ace this test, no probs."

"That's not the point" I said through gritted teeth.

"Woops, sorry cant hear you, gotta go honk that horn to start the race…Adios!"

_Grrr…_

I stood at the start line, with the fastest chavs in the school on either side of me, we were going to do a dribbling race.

This is pointless.

_Hoooonnnnkkk_

Now matter how hard I tried, my competitive edge took over me and I had to go for it, I raced down the track with ease, back and forth between the cones, I could feel all eyes on me.

I smiled satisfied, _this kind of attention I can handle._

I made it up and down the track in no time, it was at least 12 seconds before any of the others finished, I examined my nails waiting for them to finish, trying to appear unbothered by my victory.

Inside, I was partying hard.

I could hear a loud wave of cheers for me and I pretended to ignore every one of them, but I couldn't help a triumphant grin forming on my lips. Suddenly, all the chavs were lifting me up like I was some kind of prize.

"NO! GET ME DOWN RIGHT NOW!!" I screamed-I hate being picked up! Everybody ignored me, they were all busy chanting "one of use, one of us" and parading me around manically.

"Hold up a minute" Natsume shouted. Everybody fell silent.

"I refuse to believe she is a chav; let her do the other tests just in case.

Everybody moaned in outrage and I was sure, any minute now, there would be a riot. "She's a chav, she passed the test" "leave her here man" …etc it was all coming out at once.

"NO" he roared angrily, everybody stopped talking.

"Look, I'm going to be as fair as I can about this, I want Mikan to do every label test. I see some potential in her" he said, his voice calmer.

"But she can't be a chav _and_ something else" said one of the boys who had just raced with me.

"I'm not so sure…Besides, don't you think this is kind of interesting?" he asked looking around.

"Oh yes, yes we do!" everyone chanted at once.

_Stupid suck ups!_

"Wait, what if I don't want to be in any of the groups?" I asked angrily, everybody was so busy trying to score points off each other that nobody thought how I might feel.

Everybody looked at each other for a second and then they began laughing uproariously. I frowned in embarrassment…Could this get any worse??


	4. Geek Test and then some

"You have got to be kidding me" I said when I saw what they had in store for me next.

"Nope" said Natsume grinning widely, sucking on a lollipop.

I narrowed my eyes, "I sincerely hope you choke on that" I said through gritted teeth.

He just laughed harder.

I clenched my fists, my long nails digging into my skin.

"Aww come on, it's not that bad is it?" he asked innocently.

"Oh, it is!" I replied. "Well, it doesn't matter what you think you've still gotta do it" he said patiently.

"And if I refuse?" I asked folding my hands across my chest.

"Well I might just have to make you…" he said in that sexy voice of his.

"I'm waiting" I said smiling secretly to myself.

"Very well" he said smiling. He walked over to me, my heart began pounding faster. Why? The jerk doesn't deserve my time of day, but as he bent down to my level, looked me in the eyes, I stopped breathing all together. _Hot damn._

His lips came closer to mine and he kissed me softly, once, twice…I kissed back and now his tongue was inside my mouth. I could hear an "ooh!" from the boys of the school watching us and a disappointed groaning sound from the girls.

_Wait what am I thinking?_ I pushed him back and slapped him. "Don't flatter your self bitch" I said to him.

His red eyes began to glow, he was furious, probably because I'd just hurt his pride. _Ha, egotistical bastard!_

"I'm not a girl!" he yelled angrily as the whole crowd laughed. "I beg to differ" I replied nonchalantly. I could hear sighs of relief from some of the girls but the majority of the crowd were hooting with laughter. It echoed too.

"RIGHT THAT'S MORE THAN ENOUGH!" Natsume screamed banging his fist on the table.

"He screams like a girl too!" I said, this time I was the only one laughing. I looked around and my laughter died down. Embarrassing much?!?

I heard a threatening snarl from Natsume.

"Go on" he grunted, not quite over the fact that everybody had been laughing at him. "Go on what?" I asked; my face blank.

He sighed and rolled his eyes. "The next test" he said slowly, as if speaking to a young child. "Yeah whatever, I knew that" I said sitting down and examining the paper in front of me.

"God this writings too small to read, who makes these fucking papers?" I asked frustrated when I couldn't read the words. "My mum" Natsume replied glaring at me. I raised my eyebrows. _It figures._ Though I didn't dare say anything.

I gave up trying to squint and see the words, I pulled out my thick, black horn rimmed glasses and suddenly everything was a lot clearer. I could hear gasps from the crowd as I put them on. _Jeez, what's their problem?_ "You want me to do a maths test?" I asked doubtfully, raising one eyebrow.

Natsume just stared at me.

"What, What? Have I got something on my face?" I asked suddenly paranoid and feeling every inch of my face with my hands.

Natsume laughed. "No, I just. It's just. Wow. Words fail me. You have got to be the sexiest thing in glasses I have ever seen" I glared at him suspiciously, but I couldn't see a glint in his eyes to suggest that he was joking.

He sounded deadly serious. Nobody spoke for a second. I shook my head still confused.

"Right, well, I'd better get started…"

"Yeah, yeah of course" Natsume said dreamily.

I opened the first page and could feel the tension in the air as everybody was staring at me. Then a thought occurred to me, "Don't you people have anything better to do? Aren't you supposed to be in lessons or something?" I asked.

"Well yeah, except it's Saturday and even though this is a boarding school, we still get weekends off. Besides we all were desperate to meet the newest student" Said a leader of one of the groups, presumably the chavs because she was wearing baggy tracksuit bottoms and a JD bag around her shoulder. "Bloody perfect."

I rushed through the test not really paying attention to the questions I just wanted to get it over and done with.

"There" I said shoving the test paper into Natsume's hand when I was done.

He handed it to one of the geeks who had greeted me earlier.

The geek looked the paper up and down and then a smile appeared on his face.

"Well?" Natsume asked.

"All correct. Hey how do you feel about joining the maths team?" he asked taking a step closer to me. Natsume glared at him and he stepped back. "Sorry" said the geek, backing into his fellow groupees.

"Now what?" asked one of the chavs, disappointed that I wasn't just a chav.

"Now, we give the girl a break, do the rest of the tests tomorrow and just enjoy the rest of our Saturday okay?" I answered before anyone-namely Natsume- else could.

I walked off before anyone could stop me; a few of the guys wolf whistled as I walked past them. I sucked it up and strutted all the way down to one of the buildings.

I heard Natsume say something to the crowd but I couldn't quite make out what it was. Then I heard the people behind me start going off in their own directions.

I heard footsteps running towards me _Oh Lord!_

"Hey wait up! Do you want me to show you around?" Natsume asked casually.

"Only if I'm forced to eat my big toe first" I replied.

He glared at me.

"Do you even know where you're going?" he asked.

"Well no but…" I sighed "Fine you can help me find my way to the office, if you are that eager to help" I said, deciding to make use of his offer.

"This way" he said leading me in the opposite direction to where I was going; he laughed amused "you really are clueless!"

We walked for a little while and then came across another block of buildings "What do you want from the office?" he asked.

"My dorm key" I replied keeping my answer short and sweet.

"Oh okay, good luck to whoever's sharing with you!" he said laughing.

I ignored him and stormed ahead of him.

In the office there was a desk, a few padded chairs and a load of posters advertising an upcoming music show. The lady at the desk was reading a magazine. When she heard the door open, she immediately jumped and hid it behind her back.

"Reckon she was reading porno, that's why she's so jumpy" Natsume said chuckling to himself.

"Or maybe she caught sight of your face" I said now chuckling myself.

Natsume nudged me angrily but gently.

"How can I help you Mr Hyuuga? The lady asked friendlily, with a false smile on her face. It was more than he deserved. _The_ _Stupid dyke._

"Actually, it's Mikan who needs your help" he replied pointing to me.

"What's the problem dear?" she asked not even bothering to give me a fake smile.

"I need my dorm key" I replied.

"Oh, did you lose it? I'll have to charge you if you do" she said sternly.

"No, I'm new" I said frowning. _Some reception!_

"Though you will be getting a lot of money from her, knowing Mikan" Natsume butted in.

I glared at him "You know nothing about me" I said irritated.

"I know that much" he replied arrogantly.

"Room 263" the lady announced.

"WHAT?!?" Natsume demanded.

"What?" I asked Natsume confused.

"She is NOT sharing with me" Natsume said, ignoring me and shouting at the lady.

"Sharing with …him?!? NO WAY!" I yelled outraged, just as loudly as Natsume.

"Shh! both of you!" said the lady annoyed.

"Listen girl," Natsume said grabbing the lady by her shirt collar. "Girls don't share with boys and I don't share with idiots!"

"I'm sorry Mr Hyuuga, I'll see what I can do" the lady said frightened.

"YOU'D BETTER!" Natsume spat out, letting her go.

She typed quickly and nervously on the laptop in front of her.

"Well?" we asked at the same time impatiently.

She swallowed.

"I'm sorry, all of the girls' dorms are full, and you are the only person in the school with a whole room to yourself" the lady said apologetically to Natsume.

"NO NO NO!!" He yelled angrily, banging his fist on the table, making the floor vibrate beneath my feet.

"If there was anything I could do…"

"DO IT!" Natsume and I said in unison. I narrowed my eyes at him.

"Stop it!" I yelled at him frustrated.

"Is there a problem here?" a majestic voice came. Natsume immediately calmed down.

A tall, incredibly skinny woman walked in from out of nowhere. She looked like a beautiful witch; she had long, straight black hair, hanging loosely on her shoulders, deep purple eyes and a slightly pointed nose.

Her face was almost perfect but she had a scar on her cheek and around it the skin was wrinkled. That was possibly her only flaw; everything else about her appearance was jaw dropping.

I almost envied her clothes; she was wearing a purple and black gothic, Victorian style corset-dress. It was beautiful and richly decorated like something from the 19th Century. I hated to think how much something like it would cost.

She looked at me curiously, "you must be Mikan" she said in a monotone. She extended a long hand out to me, pointing a set of long, perfectly manicured nails at me. I just stared at her hand, too scared too move. Natsume nudged me hard. It made me jump.

"Oh right" I said and I shook her hand. She gripped my hand firmly. "Welcome to Gauken Alice Music School" she said in an almost threatening way.

I was too afraid to speak, luckily she smiled at me "I think your time here is going to be very…memorable" she said cackling.

_What's that supposed to mean?_

"Now Natsume, I know you don't want to have to share but you will be sorry if you don't" she said winking at him.

"Doubt it" he mumbled, she glared at him. He forced a smile "If you say so Miss" he corrected himself through gritted teeth.

She clapped her hands together loudly, "excellent. Then it's settled, you and Mikan shall share a room" she laughed "it's almost like fate brought you together isn't it?" she asked happily.

"Or Satan"

"Mikan, reluctance will not get you far. Try not to be so stubborn" she hinted as she walked off.

_Oh great, I'm going to be sharing with Natsume. Hmmph can things get any worse? _


	5. Sharing

Apparently, things _can _get worse.

The dorm was a pigsty, the floor was covered in his clothes and there was a load of random items lying around. A guitar was propped up, leaning against a wall. Two of the strings were snapped.

My eyes froze in horror as I saw some unwashed underwear lying on a swively computer chair. "Gross!" I moaned. Natsume laughed at my response to 'his' dorm.

"Feel free to tidy up" he said grinning.

"Oh no, I don't think so! This is _your _mess" I said shoving a pile of shirts from the floor into his hand.

"By the way, you're going to have to clear up some space for my clothes. I don't exactly fancy chucking them all on the floor like you do"

"What? Who do you think you are? In case you've forgotten, this is _my _dorm. _My _rules." He said firmly.

I narrowed my eyes at him. "What rules?" I asked suspociously.

"Well, no moving my stuff for a start!" he said dropping the shirts I shoved into his hands back onto the floor.

He watched my disgusted expression as I examined the rest of the room.

"OCD much?" he asked laughing to himself.

"NO!" I said angry. _Score one for him._

"Eeew! What is that?!?" I asked staring horrified at a snake in a glass tank.

"It's scales. You better treat him with respect, he bites"

I tapped on the tank, the snake or 'Scales' didn't move, "I think its dead" I said insensitively.

He laughed, "I'd be very disturbed if he wasn't, since he's about sixty years old now"

_OH MY GOD! Someone save me, please anyone!_ I silently prayed in my mind.

"Who keeps a dead sixty year old snake in their room? And call's it Scales? Isn't that why we have trash cans?" I asked without thinking.

"It was my best mates, he kept it for ages, he really valued it and before he left he gave it to me to remember him by" said Natsume sniffing, I was sure I could see the glimmer of a tear forming in his eyes so I left it at that.

He shook his head, changing the subject, "Wait, I think you need to see this" he said bending down. His ass was inches from my face. I forced myself to look away. On the couch, there were a few pillows, suddenly an idea struck me. I picked up a pillow and attacked him with it before he got up. "Oi!" he yelled getting up angrily. I laughed hard. _We're almost even now._

He hit me back with another pillow.

"Okay, that's it, I'm knocking you off your throne" I said hitting him with multiple pillows. Then the fight really started, pillows were flying everywhere. Eventually one-or more likely a few of them burst and we were covered in pure white feathers.

I collapsed to the floor laughing; he was still trying to hit me with a pillow, though he had lost most of the fight in him.

We both laughed as he gave up and dropped his head by mine.

_Wait, I'm not supposed to laugh with the jerk, I'm supposed to laugh at him!_

I stopped laughing and glared at him. "I still hate you."

"The feelings mutual" he replied, indifferent.

"Glad we're on the same page."

He laughed for a second and said "I bet you can't go a whole hour without vacuuming these feathers up."

"I can!" I replied, though I wasn't entirely sure myself. They were already beginning to irritate me.

"Prove it, lay here with me for the next sixty minutes" he challenged.

"And if I do what do I win?" I asked my competitiveness overpowering my mind and heart.

"Twenty pounds?"

"Cheap much?"

"Fifty?"

"That's more like it" I said grinning.

"And if you lose…You have to tidy the entire room" Natsume said cockily. He seemed pretty sure he would win.

_I'm not going to give him the satisfaction of beating me. _

"Deal" I said sounding more confident than I felt.

…

What seemed like an eternity passed. I yawned, though I wasn't tired.

"What time is it now?"

"It's only been six minutes" he said laughing, "You might want to get your rubber gloves out" he added.

"No way."

"Yes way"

I ignored him; I didn't want to talk to someone as arrogant as he was.

"You know, time would pass quicker if we spoke to each other" Natsume noted after a while of silence.

"What's your point?" I asked, trying not to appear happy by his offer.

He sighed, "No point, just stating a fact" he said, his voice less arrogant now. I pulled a face at him. "What's wrong? Still can't get over the fact that I'm the only girl not falling at your feet?" I asked.

"As if! No, I count myself lucky for that" he replied.

I raised my eyebrows at him. "Sure" I said sarcastically.

He glared at me. "So, seen anybody you _do_ like?" he asked. _Why the sudden interest?_ "Not yet, but rest assured if I do, it _won't _be you" I said.

"We'll see about that" he said.

I kicked him. Hard.

"What was that for?!" he yelled, his ruby eyes glowing again.

"Overconfidence isn't attractive babe. Just a hint" I replied winking at him.

"You know you love it" he replied a grin spreading across his face.

I snorted, "Yeah, almost as much as I love your sexy body!" I said sarcastically.

"Wow, slow down girl!" he replied.

I laughed sourly, "trust me if I were any slower, I'd be dead."

I think I might have offended him because he shut up after that. Not that I care…

"How long has it been now?" I asked when the silence began grating on my nerves.

"Thirty-one minutes in counting" he replied staring at his expensive looking watch.

He turned to face away from me; I looked at the back of his body, his white shirt contrasting against his tanned skin, his baggy jeans lower than they should be. Not that I'm complaining…

Here's a line most boys get in trouble for saying but it really was the case when it came to Natsume, 'he looks just as good from behind as he does from the front.'

_God I sound like a perv!_ I shook the thought from my head and turned away from him. "How long now?" I asked, trying to distract my mind.

"Thirty-four minutes" he mumbled.

I groaned.

The feathers really were starting to bug me now. Maybe if I just put them in the bin…

That doesn't count as vacuuming does it?

"Natsume?"

"Hmm?"

"If I put the feathers in the bin, does that count as vacuuming?"

He chuckled sounding as if he thought he'd won already. "Yes it does"

"Damn it!"

He laughed again, "If you want to clean them up, all you have to do is admit you lost. Of course, then you would have to clean the whole place…" he said.

I could picture his face with horns and fangs, but that would be insulting the devil. "This is so not worth fifty" I moaned.

"No, its not but hey, you dealt low. You're fault" he said clearly enjoying this. I bet he thought I was going to crack any second. I thought the same. _Wait no! He's not going to get one over on me. I'm not letting him win!_

I said that over and over in my head and I closed my eyes so I couldn't see the feathers.

"Are you asleep?" he asked gently shaking me.

I opened my eyes, "No why?" I asked.

"Times up" he admitted.

I smirked triumphantly at him. "That will be fifty pounds please" I said holding out my hands, marginally less cocky than he would have been if it were the other way around.

He glared at me but nonetheless he reluctantly slammed a note into my hand.

I laughed, "Nice doing business with you."

He shook his head, "I underestimated you" he said.

"Yes you did, I don't give in easily. But then again, you probably know that now don't you?" I said waving the money in his face.

I skipped around the room happily. "Don't go getting big headed" he warned.

I gasped dramatically, "what kind of girl do you take me for?" I asked.

"No seriously, I mean do I look like a slut? Have you ever kissed a slut? I bet you have. Have you ever kissed a guy? Ha-ha, I can so totally see that!" I babbled.

He put his hand firmly over my mouth, "shut it" he warned.

"Ooh, what are your big girl panties on now?" I asked. He glared at me. I blew him a kiss and he stomped his foot fiercely like a child.

"So seriously, where am I going to sleep?" I asked eyeing the double bed in the corner of the room. The room was big enough to hold several bunk beds and I was sure it had until Natsume took over. He must be King of the school or something

One thing was for sure: I wouldn't be worshipping him.

"That's my bed" he said pointing to the double bed, "I dunno, I guess you could sleep on the floor…That is unless…" he raised his eyebrows at me.

"Gross! No way" I replied though it was tempting. "Please Natsume, stop being selfish" I begged. I couldn't believe I lowered myself enough as to speak to him civilly.

He sighed. "There's a mattress behind the wardrobe" he said going over to retrieve it. He laid it on the opposite side of the room to his bed.

"Thank you" I forced myself to say. He made a coughing-grunting sound of disapproval.

I frowned at him but couldn't be bothered to continue the conversation.

"You can put your clothes in there" he said pointing to a wardrobe. "It's empty."

"Thanks" I said again, this time he just smiled at me. I opened my giant suitcase and began unloading its contents into the wardrobe.

Natsume informed me on all of the rules of the school (which he oh-so helpfully edited) and then he talked me through the schedules. I think it was the most civil conversation we had ever had.

He sat on the desk and watched me organise my clothes. "Typical" he said tsking under his tongue.

"What?" I demanded.

"All of your clothes are folded" he replied.

"And?" I asked irritated.

He laughed, "You are such a dyke."

I glared at him; but for some reason his laughter was infectious and within seconds I was laughing too.

"Everything okay?" a lady asked popping her head through the door.

We both stopped laughing and glared at each other, embarrassed. "Fine" I replied dryly.

"Good" she said cheerfully, "The head mistress was worried you weren't getting along, but from the looks of things, you're both becoming fond of each other" she raised her eyebrows.

"Mmm, yeah" Natsume agreed over-sarcastically.

"Well I'll leave you to it" she giggled and walked out, closing the door quietly.

"What's the deal with the headmistress?" I asked curiously.

"What do you mean?" Natsume asked.

"Well, before she was really weird and you seemed to be scared of her or something" I replied not bothering to cut out the last bit.

"She can see into the future, and I have every right to be scared, not that I am" he said defensively. "Sure you're not" I replied mockingly.

"I'm not!" he said raising his voice.

"If you say so…But seriously, what's she done? Why is everyone scared of her?" I asked.

"I don't know, but I don't want to find out. When she shouts, her eyes turn entirely black, nobody has gone any further to see what she is capable of" he replied shuddering.

He looked like a little child sharing a ghost story. I almost pitied him. _Almost,_ though I did enjoy seeing him less smug and strong than he usually tried to look.

"Cool" I replied nonchalantly.

He glared at me, "you're not scared? Not even a bit?" he asked doubtfully.

"You're not. Why should I?" I replied.

"Hmmph…Well you haven't seen her in action yet" he said. "You don't want to get on the wrong side of her"

"You don't wanna get on the wrong side of me either" I said punching the air like a boxer. He laughed, "Cute."

I glared at him.

_I swear if I spend any more time with this idiot then my eyes are going to be permanently glued together!_

"Hungry?" he asked.

It was only then that I realised I was starving; I hadn't eaten a thing all day. I nodded.

"Good cos it's dinner time. I would offer to take you to the hall, but people might get the wrong idea. I don't want anyone thinking I actually _like_ you" he said.

That stung.

"I'll make my own way thank you very much, besides, you'd cramp my style" I said trying to sound unaffected by the prospect.

He raised one eyebrow, "Well, maybe just this once… Since it's your first day, it wouldn't hurt to take you…" he began

"Sure, thanks" I said before he could change his mind. He smiled and opened the door for me.


	6. Friends

As expected, we got our fair share of stares. *snort* that rhymes! I laughed out loud, Natsume glared at me as if I was a freak willing me to stop with his eyes.

"You idiot." He shook his head at me. "I knew this was a bad idea" he retorted and with that, he stalked off to find his friends, leaving me deserted in the middle of the hall.

"Hey, Mikan care to sit over here?" someone called waving me over. _Geek!_

"Sit here" somebody else called patting an empty seat next to them. _Chav!_

_Hey, I'm actually learning something from this school…cool!_

At least two people from each group asked me to sit with them, every group except the emos…

So it was settled, I was sitting with them, whether they liked it or not.

I sat in an empty space by a friendly looking girl. She had short, jet black hair and was wearing too much eyeliner.

She was sitting by herself but she was talking to some people opposite her.

Everybody stopped and stared as I sat down next to her. They were all glaring at me, clearly thinking I didn't belong. I ignored them.

"Hey, I'm…" I started happily.

"Mikan" she replied in a quiet, soft voice, "I know."

"Oh, well umm…Hi, I hope you don't mind me sitting here" I replied slightly annoyed yet bewildered that everyone seemed to know me.

Everybody's eyes eventually went back to their plates, for today I had brought a packed lunch so I didn't have to eat any horrible cafeteria food but to my surprise, it actually looked and smelled pretty good.

My eyes glanced over at Natsume, it was hard to ignore him when he was being so loud, "Yeah brother!" he said laughing and punching fists with another boy.

I tried to ignore him. "So what's your name?" I asked the girl I was sitting next to.

She looked at me, trying to read my expression. I don't know if she found what she was looking for, sarcasm maybe?

"Hotaru" she answered eventually.

"Nice name" I commented smiling.

"Thanks" she mumbled embarrassed and blushing. I looked at her bag, it had a logo on that I recognised.

"Oh my God, you like Slipknot?!?" I asked.

"Yeah, they are like one of the best bands ever!" she claimed enthusiastically. "To be honest I'm actually surprised you've ever heard of them" she said raising her eyebrows to one of the girls opposite her.

I ignored the gesture, "Why's that?" I asked curious.

Hotaru shrugged, "I just thought you'd be more into rap or hip-hop"

"I like rap and hip-hop but metal and rock are awesome too" I retorted, annoyed that she'd come to an assumption so fast. It seemed everybody at this damned school had.

She looked at me doubtfully.

"What?! I can like more than one type of music!" I almost screamed.

"Yeah, you're right. Sorry" Hotaru mumbled quietly, blushing and looking slightly ashamed. And _so she should be. _

I sighed, but then a thought came to me, "Wait, you really mean that? It seems Natsume is the only one in school who thinks I can be more than one type of person.

Does that mean you are too?" I asked excited.

One of the boys sitting opposite with a dark fringe shot a look at her; though I couldn't see his eyes through his hair I could tell he was trying to communicate something.

I raised my eyebrow in confusion and looked at Hotaru expectantly, "Well?"

"What?" she asked, dreamily, as if she hadn't even heard me. She did not taking her eyes off the boy.

"Are you anything other than emo?" I asked impatiently.

"No" she replied simply, she was still staring at him even though he'd turned away now.

I watched her expression as she watched him with admiration, wait…

"Oh my god!" I yelled grinning.

"What, what?" I could hear more than one person say.

The whole school was facing in our direction seeing what was going on.

"Do you mind? I'm _trying _to have a private conversation with my friend!" I yelled dramatically and rolling my eyes.

_Seriously, how nosey can you get?_

The boy who had shot a look at Hotaru was laughing now, "How can you have a private conversation at that volume? Then again, I guess that's normal for you. Or is normal the right word?" he mused.

I glared at him.

He raised both hands up as if in surrender, "Hey, no offence, I kind of like that about you: you're utterly amusing"

I smiled falsely at him. He laughed and turned his back on me, talking with the guy behind him.

Hotaru looked at me, her face hurt. Then I remembered what I wanted to say before everyone else so rudely interrupted.

"You like him don't you?" I asked quietly. Her face turned fierce and she was blushing again.

_Aww young love!_

"No!" she exclaimed angrily.

"You do" I accused; working against the smile that was creeping threateningly through my lips.

"No I don't!" she hissed back at me insistently.

"Hey, its okay. You can tell me, I can keep a secret. Besides we're friends now right?" I asked.

Well maybe _friend_ is a strong word since I literally pushed the poor girl towards me.

_Hehehe…_

She didn't reply and tried to compose her face.

"Sorry" I mumbled a bit upset at her inattentive reaction.

"What for?" she asked confused.

"I know I came on a little strong, but you can't blame me for not wanting to sit with those desperate saddo's" I said pointing to just a few of the people who had called me over to sit with them.

"Your group were the only ones to ignore me. And I like that. I want to prove myself. I'm not the stupid bimbo I make out to be" I said examining her expression carefully.

Her mouth fell open in surprise and she gasped.

"No one thinks that! We just think… Well maybe _you_ wouldn't want to hang around with _us_" she sounded a little shocked.

"What?!" I asked reflecting her previous shocked tone. "That's stupid, there's nothing special about me. Really, I'm not that amazing, frankly I don't know why anyone here takes any interest in me" I replied flatly but honestly.

"You're different; special somehow. They're just curious about you, we all are to be honest and you bring everybody towards yourself with your bubbly, happy attitude and general cool vibe" she claimed matter-of-factly.

"Wow, that's really insightful, do you mean that?" I asked amazed at her sudden, coherent response as oppose to her vague, monosyllabic answers before.

"Sure I do" she replied smiling at me shyly.

I grinned back.

"Friends?"

"Sure"

_Woo! My first official friend at this shithole!_

After that we sat in silence, which was fine with me; I like to be alone with my thoughts sometimes.

And I guess we didn't want to break the silent truce we had just made either; it was inevitable that we would disagree on several things, so it was best we didn't talk too much.

We were eyed by what seemed like everyone that lunchtime but I ignored them.

_Assholes…can't keep there fucking eyes to themselves can they?_

After dinner, I went back to my dorm, praying I could be alone for a bit.

I opened the door with ease. It creaked but I didn't take any notice of it.

I looked around and there was nobody there, "Natsume?" I called.

There was no response.

"Woo!" I yelled aloud, shutting the door and dancing around randomly on the spot.

When I was all danced out, I walked carefully through the obstacle course of plastic plates, old clothes and God-knows-what-else and sat on the couch.

I sat down and tried to decide what to do.

Ooh…shiny! A ring was glinting in the light and it caught my eye, I trudged through the mass of junk and picked it up, spinning it around between my fingers.

It looked like real gold and was pretty heavy; I was too scared to try it n, in case it made me lose balance!

"Pretty" I mused, like a little child, enchanted by a fairytale princess.

I decided to put it somewhere safe, so that it didn't get damaged.

I found an empty set of drawers and put it in the first compartment.

I then went back to the couch and sat.

I looked around the big room in disgust.

I sighed heavily.

_I need to fix this!_

I got up and started picking things up, putting them in appropriate places. The bin was full after just three minutes of cleaning.

I used a bin bag I had taken from home and put the rest of the trash in there-along with some of Natsume's clothes…hehehe!

I found a lot more jewellery too, all of which I place carefully in the top compartment of the set of drawers I had found earlier.

When the floor was completely devoid of junk, I began dusting the shelves and wiping the stains on the ground and shelves.

I hadn't noticed before but the floor was wooden, and as I looked around the almost clean room, I realised the place looked pretty luxurious-no doubt a change made (or more likely paid for) by Natsume.

No boarding schools are this nice…

I finished up the rest of the room and glanced at my watch. Dinner time had to be over soon, I lay on the couch, chillaxed and waited for Natsume to walk in.

I couldn't wait to see his face.

_Who's so smug now huh?_

I didn't have to wait long, Natsume walked in with uncanny timing.

"Hey" I said grinning.

His eyes were wide open, staring left and right, all around the room.

His mouth fell to a stretched '0' shape

"What have you done?" he asked, his voice shocked.

"I cleaned it" I said grinning proudly.

"The hell you did you crazy bitch" he replied, his mouth still hanging open. "Where is all my stuff?" he asked, glaring at me now.

"Burnt it"

He glared at me.

Hmmph… "Clothes in the small wardrobe, gold necklace chains and rings-you really shouldn't leave those lying around! - in that drawer and everything else is either in that box," I said pointing to a rather large box in the corner of the room, "The bin, or that black bin bag" I said pointing to the bin and the bin bag which was perched beside it.

His face still seemed shocked. I grinned. And I was glad he wasn't angry at me.

Then, his lips curled into a grin, "hey, I have a cleaner now, cool" and the smile reached his eyes.

"Yeah well, I won't make a habit of it so keep the place clean" I replied smoothly.

He looked at me, disbelief burning in his eyes.

_Okayyy…I obviously wasn't smooth as I thought…_

"Okay fine, you know I can't help myself when it comes to messiness" I gave in.

He laughed and put one arm around me, "Maybe this won't be so bad… There are already some perks of sharing a room with you," he winked at me.

I tutted and rolled my eyes, "Whatever. Oh, thanks for leaving me at lunch by the way" I added sarcastically.

"Sorry girl, you really are weird, I can't have you cramping my style" he replied as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"I have a reputation to keep up you know" he added plucking his collar.

I laughed uncontrollably, "how you can say that with a straight face, I really don't have a clue" I informed him.

His eyes flashed, burning red and his eyebrows crossed down his forehead.

"Aww was that a bit mean? I'm sorry babes" I said squidging his cheek "So soft and round" I mused whilst he tried to whack my hand away violently.

I folded my arms over my chest, "Just put your big girl panties on and get over it" I said.

He turned his back on me. "Idiot" he muttered.

I hugged him tightly from behind, "I love you too! And I just know this is the start of a beautiful relationship" I said with false enthusiasm and kissed him on the cheek just to irritate him-not for any other reasons like him being totally hot or anything, purely for irritation…And it worked.

He growled at me, his tone enraged. I smiled in response and blew him a big kiss.

If anything made my day, it had to be pissing off Natsume… it was just so easy and fun!


	7. Dont judge a book by its cover

I woke up after a rough night of tossing and turning, the mattress was comfortable but I'd had a nightmare that sent chills through my spine.

I dreamt of Natsume and me, we were running from something, why we were together? No idea.

I don't know what we were running from but I was scared shitless and I woke up to find myself sweating heavily and breathing faster than normal.

My hair was drenched and I stunk of sweat so I went into the bathroom.

I was horrified to know that I had to share a bathroom with Natsume, but to my surprise it wasn't all that bad, mainly because the bathroom was nice and decent; not messy like the rest of the dorm.

I turned the water heat up and pulled off my clothes relieved to be rid of the perspiration from the night before.

I then remembered I hadn't locked the door and quickly bolted it before I forgot.

I stepped into the shower spot and began pouring water all over myself, letting every inch of me get wet.

It was then that I felt an urge to sing. I picked the first song that same to mind and began singing quietly.

"_Pain, the only thing he has left is his pain_

_His feelings inside have never felt insane_

_Until the blood drips from his veins_

_All can feel his pain…"_

I stopped suddenly when I realised Natsume's snoring had stopped. I stared at the door, feeling paranoid. _Had I definitely locked the door?_

I heard him clapping.

"Beautiful" I heard him say, and he sounded like he meant it.

I could feel the heat in my cheeks and I was sure I was blushing. I was so thankful he couldn't see my face right now; I didn't want him to have anything to hold against me.

"I know" I said smugly. I didn't mean it, but I felt like being annoying like him. It was fun.

He laughed, "Know any rap?" he asked.

"_You can do it put you're back into it,_

_I can do it put your ass into it…" _

He laughed hard; "very good" I could sense no sarcasm.

"What do you want?" I moaned, with mock irritation.

"I want to have a shower, hurry up or I'll knock the door down"

"Why didn't you just ask earlier?"

"I was having too much fun listening to you"

I glared even though he couldn't see me.

"You've got three minutes, 2:59, 2:58, 2:57…"

"Yeah, okay I get the point!" I yelled rushing to finish up. I quickly put on some fresh clothes and stormed out, my hair still extremely wet and sticking to my face.

"Oh, how nice of you to decide to come out" he said dryly.

"I wasn't in that long!" I said.

"I heard you get up about an hour ago"

_Wow, I hadn't realised I had been in the shower so long._

"That's not so bad" I said my voice indifferent.

He glared at me and pulled his hand down his face in irritation. He left his hand at his jaw and massaged it.

"Never again" he muttered to me and went into the bathroom.

I heard the lock of the door.

_What now?_

I sat on the sofa and contemplated what I would be doing next, lessons started at 10pm so I still had two hours to myself.

My eyes spotted Natsume's guitar and I picked it up, it was in awful condition. _Trust him!_

I began tuning it nonetheless and then started to play 'Remembering Sunday' by All Time Low. I had only played it through twice when Natsume came out of the bathroom.

He was wearing baggy jeans and no shirt. I stopped playing and couldn't keep my eyes off his bare chest, it was even more muscular than I'd first imagined and the colour…

I shook my head vigorously.

_What am I thinking? He's a jerk, an ugly, ugly, sexy…_

I banged my head on the table. Why did he have to be so fucking attractive?

"You shouldn't do that" he said gently.

_Haven't we had this conversation before? Next thing, he's going to be telling me how stupid I am… _

I ignored him and continued banging.

He walked over to me and held onto my head gently so I couldn't bang it anymore.

We looked into each others eyes for a millisecond before we both looked away in embarrassment.

"Brain damage" he reminded me.

I couldn't get his face out of my mind; he almost looked pleasant when he was looking into my eyes.

"You play the guitar?" he said, sounding more like he was asking a question than a statement.

"Really? I didn't notice. I forgot to eat my bowl of smart-girl cereal this morning" I replied sarcastically.

He glared at me.

"Seriously though, when's breakfast? I'm starving!" I asked.

"Half an hour."

"Kay."

We stayed silent for a while; Natsume dried his hair and put on a white school shirt. He looked me up and down.

"You're gonna need a uniform" he informed me.

"I don't have one"

"Here" he said tossing me a bag.

I opened it up and pulled out a uniform, it looked at least two sizes too small for me, Natsume chuckled when he saw my expression.

"I'm not wearing that"

He glared at me "Yes you are you have no other choice. You do know how easy it is to get expelled from this school don't you? There are millions of people just waiting for the opportunity to come here. I'm sure they'd gladly take your place."

Now it was my turn to glare. "I hate you" I said through gritted teeth.

He blew me a kiss…No doubt to make up for last night.

I muttered incoherently under my breath as I went into the bathroom to change.

The shirt was too tight as expected and I couldn't do the top two buttons up and the skirt was at least three inches too short, showing off a lot of my leg.

I put on some knee high socks but you could still see a large amount of thigh.

I then put on my own school shoes and went out of the bathroom to look into the full length mirror.

Natsume was sitting on the edge of the sofa, when I walked out he fell of with a big crash.

"What the hell?" I wandered aloud.

His eyes widened and he stared at me, I felt really self conscious. _Do I have something on my face? _

I looked into the overgrown mirror and stared at myself, I looked like a slut.

"Natsume, I am NOT going out of the dorm looking like this" I moaned.

He didn't say anything.

"NATSUME!" I yelled trying to get his attention.

He got up from the ground and looked at me questioningly, "what?"

"Oh never mind" I said rolling my eyes.

"It's time for breakfast now"

"Okay" I said and with that I walked out of the door.

I heard footsteps behind me and I grinned triumphantly.

"Look who's come crawling" I said turning around.

"What?" Hotaru asked confused.

I laughed embarrassed. "Oh, sorry I thought you were someone else"

"Its okay" she replied nodding in understanding.

She stopped walking and stared at me.

"What?!" I demanded, and then I remembered what I was wearing.

She raised one eyebrow at me.

"Its not mine, Natsume made me wear it" I explained.

I don't know if she bought it but she nodded and began walking again.

"So breakfast time huh?" I asked, desperate to change the subject.

"Mmhmm"

"What's on the menu?"

"Stuff"

"Uh-huh"

We walked in silence the rest of the way. I wished she was more talkative, I needed some reassurance. I felt nervous about going into a hall full of students dressed like this.

I walked in and all eyes were on me, you'd think I would be used to it by now but I wasn't.

I was sure I was blushing but I acted like everything was normal and got in queue behind Hotaru.

I popped my jaw impatiently.

"Hurry up!" I muttered quietly.

Hotaru looked at me "You can go in front of me if you want"

"Thanks."

"You can go in front of me too!" a boy offered.

"And me"

Suddenly, the line opened up. I gazed ahead, and for a surprising second (or two) I stopped feeling stressed and actually experienced a little delight.

"Mikan shouldn't be at the back of the line" one of the chavs said.

The generosity would come at a price, I knew. These people would now expect me to treat them like a friend, to wave at them in halls and talk to them between classes. _No way._

Nonetheless, I moved to the front of the line with my head held high.

I grabbed a tray at random and turned towards the tables trying to remember when I had sat yesterday.

My eyes glanced over automatically to where Natsume was, he was already sat and his plate was half empty.

I guessed one of the girls who worshipped him brought him his breakfast; the King shouldn't have to move a muscle.

His eyes met mine and I looked away, pretending to inspect the half empty table in front of me.

Hotaru overtook me and sat at a table near the middle. I followed her and sat next to her. The guy from yesterday was here again and she greeted him with a nervous "hi."

He smiled and said "hi" back.

He looked at me for a long moment and said "hello to you too" and smiled.

"Yeah, hi" I said trying to sound uncaring. 'You're supposed to like her not me!' I wanted to yell at him but I didn't want to embarrass Hotaru.

I yawned, and looked down at my tray.

I had picked up pancakes (ooh lucky I love pancakes!) I smiled to myself.

"Chocolate sauce?" Hotaru offered, handing me a squeezy container.

"Thanks" I said smiling at her. Once I'd drowned my pancakes in chocolate sauce- ignoring everybody stares- I began eating them.

"Do you like know how many calories are in that?" one of the girls behind me asked.

"Don't care" I said with a mouthful of pancake.

The girls looked at each other in disgust and then went back to their conversation about how amazingly gorgeous Natsume is- it was somewhat amusing to know how highly they thought of him- it was a struggle not to laugh in their faces.

I was first to finish my breakfast and I waited patiently for Hotaru to finish. It seemed she was trying to eat as slowly as possible- probably so she could stare at that guy for as long as she could.

When she finished she turned her attention to me, "Who's your next lesson with?" she asked.

"Um…" I pulled out my timetable from my bag.

"Mr Fedrick"

"Cool, you're with me and Natsume then. Wanna start making our way over?" she asked.

"Sure" I said smiling. _I think she was finally starting to warm to me._ Hehehe… *evil laugh*

We walked out of the door and across the field, I linked arms with Hotaru and she hesitated for a second but I wouldn't let her get away form me so she gave in.

We entered a small building and went up a short flight of stairs.

The door was marked 'N10'

"What does that mean?" I asked pointing to the sign.

"That's just the room name" she explained.

"Oh."

"NO. NO, THAT IS THE WRONG NOTE, CAN'T YOU DO ANYTHING YOU GOD FORSAKEN SOD?" I heard a man yell from the room.

"Please tell me that that's not…" I started

She nodded apologetically.

"Oh crap."

"That's right" she said smiling and she saw my worried expression.

"Don't worry; he's not _that _bad… When he's in a good mood"

"You're not doing a very good job of reassuring me" I noted.

"Sorry."

After a while, more people were there waiting outside the classroom. I wondered when Natsume would get here. Or did his Royal Highness not have to attend lessons at all?

I clenched my teeth together at the thought.

A few strangers said hi to me but I couldn't be bothered to be polite. I just smiled forcedly and looked away.

I was too irritated by the fact that Natsume seemed to have everything he wanted. I couldn't do any more without screaming at them.

I tried to forget the thought and listened in on the conversation the girls in front of me were having.

"Yeah, he is like such a total jar!"

"And did you see how fat he is now? I cant believe you used to fancy him!"

"I did not you arsehole!"

"Did too"

I groaned. This had to be the most pathetic conversation ever.

The girls turned to face me.

The one in the middle frowned at me; she was no doubt the leader of this little group.

She had long blond hair (with extensions) and a lot of make up on. Her face was orange and she was wearing short shorts and a tight school shirt.

Her tie was undone but she wore it around her neck like a scarf.

She had an irritating hippy band around her forehead and it made her like a twat. I was highly tempted to fling it back like an elastic band.

Her fake eyelashes were far beyond looking even the slightest bit real and her oh-too-pale lips were pursed carefully in place.

"Did you want something?" she asked in a rude don't-mess-with-me kind of voice.

Her two friends glared at me and surrounded me.

"No, I'm good, you can send your puppy dogs back to their original position" I said, my voice indifferent.

I examined my nails nonchalantly.

She cleared her throat, "Excuse me?" she asked pointing a long, fake nail in my direction.

"God, is any part of you actually real?" I asked, "You're like a Barbie doll it's like I could easily snap your arm off any second. Totally plastic" I pondered aloud.

She chewed on her lips, her face furious.

"What did you just say?! Are you looking for beef?" she asked.

"No thanks, I'm a vegetarian" I replied grinning.

I heard a cloud of laughter and I realised everybody was watching our squabble.

"Hey what's going on here?" I heard Natsume's voice call.

The Barbie clone (a.k.a chav almighty) immediately put on a fake smile and walked over to him, holding his hand.

"Nothing, I was just sorting out the trash" she said laughing nervously.

"Yeah Luna, it sounds like it" he replied doubtfully and pulled his hand away from hers.

She frowned frustrated but kept quiet.

_Huh, what a loser!_

I heard the door open and it made me jump.

"RIGHT, GET IN I HAVEN'T GOT ALL DAY! COME ON YOU LITTLE SODS HURRY UP!" I heard a man yell.

To my amusement, he was a short stubby little thing.

His ginger coloured beard and bald head made him look like a garden gnome. His appearance was highly comical. I chuckled quietly to myself; I didn't want to get kicked out of the school by someone half the size of me.

His face was an angry red colour, clashing with his white button-up shirt (no wrinkles) and brown dress slacks (again no wrinkles). So neat. So tidy.

So this is the man I was afraid of just minutes ago...


	8. Confusianity

I sat at the back of the room next to Hotaru and behind Natsume.

There were a lot of people in the room I recognised and others that I didn't. I tried not to make eye contact with the teacher; he looked as if he could blow his head right off his neck any second and I didn't want to be the one to trigger it.

_I'm too young to be a murderer - for now at least!_

"Oh you're new" he noticed aloud and he banged his fists together loudly to get my attention.

That was the first sentence I'd heard him say without using the word 'sod.'

"Mmmhmm" I mumbled, not daring to speak.

"Look at me when I'm talking to you" he ordered.

I looked up and stared straight past him, I didn't want to see the look in his eyes.

He smirked and turned his back on me. He began pacing the middle of the room, between all the rows of desks.

"Tell you what, why don't you give us a little demo to show what you are capable of?" he asked.

"No thanks."

His eyes narrowed to tiny slits, "That wasn't a request."

"Aww come on Mikan, you're great at singing in the shower, why don't you can just pretend you're naked?" Natsume called enthusiastically.

The room burst with laughter and Natsume was laughing the hardest and the longest, his voice easily recognisable above everybody else's.

I shot him a threatening, defiant glare.

Mr Fedrick said nothing in my rebuke. _Some teacher he is! _

"What kind of artist are you?" he asked as the laughter died down.

I shrugged, "I guess I do a bit of everything" I answered trying not to sound like I was bragging.

He frowned at me, evidently irritated.

"DON'T LIE TO ME GIRL, THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE!" He yelled.

"She's not lying, she's part of every group" Hotaru interrupted bravely.

'Thank you' I mouthed to her barely perceptibly.

"I don't believe it! I _won't_" Mr Fedrick stated stubbornly.

"No really, she is!" another student chimed in.

"Yeah she is!"

"ENOUGH!" He yelled.

Then he smirked, as if something just occurred to him. "Very well then, how about doing a bit of rap for us?" he challenged.

"No prob" I replied confidently.

I rapped a few lines which I made up on the spot, it wasn't about anything in particular, and he seemed impressed.

He decided to go for the most different style to rap next. Challenging me. "Opera"

I sung a few high, long notes. He was getting more and more aggravated by the second.

"Metal"

I shouted the lines I'd rapped a few short seconds ago.

He grunted.

"Screamo"

I screamed the lines.

Four visible lines creased into his forehead and he was getting more and more frustrated as I continued to ace every style he had chosen.

"Sing amazing grace"

I sung it as passionately as I could, my eyes closed.

When I stopped, everybody was cheering and even Mr Fedrick seemed a little impressed though he was trying not to show it.

"That's it!" Scowl deepening, he pounded toward me and slapped his hand against my desk, causing the metal legs to vibrate. If he didn't learn to control his stress level, he'd burst a vessel in his forehead.

"Get out!" The man looked ready to snap - my neck, that is. A little tremble worked through me, but I quickly squashed it.

If I showed any weakness, he would only use it against me in our next skirmish. And there would be another one, I could feel it.

I stood up and glared at him for a while, taking comfort in the fact that he had to look up to me.

I'm taller than he is by several inches - and I'm only five foot five!

"No" I said firmly. And if everyone was not staring before, they definitely were now.

There were shocked gasps coming from all over the room.

I was sure he would be even angrier at me but to my surprise, his face relaxed and he smiled.

"Did you really just say that to me?" he asked, his eyebrows rose in disbelief.

"Sure as hell I did."

"Nice" he said, shaking my hand, "You've got guts, that's a first. I think you and I are going to get along very well."

I looked at him, confused. Everybody else was just as confused as I was.

_What the hell just happened?_

"Oh and Mikan?"

"Yeah?"

"You're taking part in Saturday's music competition and you will be representing me" he declared.

"Competition?" I asked puzzled.

"Sure, students gather together in groups or on their own and every now and then we have a sing-off and who ever wins get a nice cash prize. I would know all about that, I've won every competition for the past two years" Natsume chirped in.

"That's right" Mr Fedrick said, crossing his arms over his chest smugly. "I'm sure you can help me win" he said confidently.

"Woah, you're not actually serious are you?" Natsume asked, taken aback.

"Of course I am!" Mr Fedrick replied as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Well that means, that she's gonna be up against me!"

"What's wrong? Scared I'll win?" I asked grinning.

"No! I just don't think you should waste your time" Natsume countered defensively.

"Who's wasting their time? You're going down, Hyuuga" I said poking my tongue out at him childishly.

"That's right man!" said Mr Fed backing me up, the words sounded strange coming from him. Everybody stared at him bewildered. Natsume raised one eyebrow.

"I saw that!" Mr Fed yelled and suddenly, everyone looked away from him and at me.

I grinned.

Natsume glared at the both of us, "Whatever."

"Right, we have no time to waste; we'll get started right now. Forget this lesson, I need to win this. I will _not _be the laughing stock of the staff lounge again. Hyuuga, out" he ordered, as if not even hearing Natsume's comment.

"What?!" Natsume questioned outraged.

"Well you mustn't know what song she's singing, you could use it against her, just go do whatever the hell you want for the next two periods that you're meant to be with me in. And that goes for the rest of you too. Go on! SCRAM YOU SODS!"

The class hesitated, uncertain of what to do.

"Listen Kev, can't you just do your job and get back to your lectures so I can get back to my nap?" Natsume asked. The room burst with laughter.

"You will address me as 'Mr Fedrick' or not address me at all. You do _not_ call my by my first name. Ever. I don't want someone like you even thinking it."

"Is it okay, then, if I call you Kevie?"

I heard a loud growl from Mr Fedrick, "You either do as I say or you will be in detention all of next week, cleaning my room."

Natsume kept quiet, facing him, determined (finally) to remain silent and end the battle. Mr Fedrick wouldn't get in trouble for it, but he would.

Mr Fedrick's too-thin lips curled in a smug smile and his green eyes glowed with triumph. "That's what I thought," he said his voice just as smug as his grin.

"What Kev?"

A round of laughter erupted.

"We're done with this conversation, I want you all out!" he jerked a finger towards the door, "ALL OF YOU!"

Natsume was first to leave, he was muttering something incoherent under his breath. I almost felt bad for him. Almost.

With that, everyone left in a hurry. I tried to make a run for it but he grabbed my shoulders.

"Not, you!" he barked irritated.

I think the man enjoyed making his students lives hell more than he enjoyed teaching.

"Right now what do you think you're strongest song style is?" he asked.

I shrugged, "I dunno"

"COME ON WORK WITH ME YOU SOD!" he yelled impatient.

"I honestly don't know!" I said firmly.

He threw up his hands in exasperation.

"Honestly, kids these days. So ignorant!"

I glared at him but he took no notice.

I let him babble on for a while, it was pretty amusing.

When I eventually felt sorry for him, I tapped his shoulder. His back was to me and he didn't flinch. He kept on raving about today's youth.

"I don't know if I want to represent you" I said loudly.

Then he turned slowly. His face was tomato red and his eyes were livid.

"Yes. You. Do." he hissed insistently.

I was scared stiff at this point; I'd never seen someone so mad. I'd never seen such a wild display of emotions from a teacher. I really pitied him.

I managed a convincing smile.

"Yeah, you're right. What would you like me to sing? You can choose" I said, keeping my voice purposely soothing.

He relaxed a bit and went over to a cupboard in the back of the room. He unlocked the padlock and pulled out a sheet of paper.

"Try this"

I read through the lyrics he had handed me. The song was beautiful, "Wow" I smiled.

He chuckled quietly, "I thought you might like it. From the top?"

I sung the first few lines, an enchanting, magical feeling rushing through my veins. This was _my _song. I loved it.

I finished the last verse and he applauded loudly.

"I have to admit, you have got a special gift. You are by far the best pupil I have ever taught.

"Thank you" I said shyly.

"Natsume has got some competition coming his way!"

I went through the song a few times and Mr Fed (he lets me call him that now) helped me adjust it to suit my voice as well as possible.

Admittedly, I was kind of disappointed when the bell rang.

Mr Fed sighed, "We'll work on it some more tomorrow"

"Kay" and with that I left the room. I checked my timetable, break already!

I went out into the field and sat on the grass on my own. I had no idea where Hotaru would be so I just sat alone thinking about the competition.

"How's Mr Fedrick's star pupil then?" a familiar voice asked sourly. Grr…Natsume.

"Fine thanks" I said flashing a smile at him.

"You're not gonna win that competition, there's no point trying. Nobody will blame you if you don't show up"

"Thanks but I don't need your advice" I replied sharply.

"Fine, humiliate yourself further. It's not my problem" he said contemptuously.

"Thank you I will" I replied in a mock tone of his.

He sniggered, "May the better _man _win."

"Bring it on" I said ignoring his emphasis on man.

…

I finished up my lunch and threw my plate carelessly onto the 'dirty' pile. I wanted to cram in as much practise as I could for the competition. There was no way I was going to lose to Natsume. I'd rather have all my fingers cut off one by one. _What a crazy stipulation. I wonder if people would want to bet on it. Maybe I should announce it to the school…Ooh a butterfly!_

I walked up two flights of stairs, took a left at the hallway and walked down hurriedly. I stood outside the door fiddling with the zip of my bag, trying to get my key out.

I stopped suddenly when I heard a loud crash from inside. I pressed my ear against the door.

"Argh you stupid prick!" -Natsume.

"Sorry, sorry! I just wanted your attention; I want to ask you something."

"Not now, I'm trying to practise!" Natsume roared.

"Natsume, do you fancy Mikan?" the other voice asked nevertheless.

My ears pricked at the sound of my name.

"What? What are you talking about?"

"Why won't you answer the question?"

"Because I'm not- I don't—"

"You do! I knew it"

I felt the blood pound in my face.

"I don't have time for this!" Natsume yelled loudly.

"Tough luck, I do"

"All I wanted, was an opinion on these lyrics not a freaking session of twenty questions!"

"Just answer the one question"

"Leave me alone"

"Do you fancy her?"

"Stop asking me that!"

"Oh my God, you're _in love _with her, aren't you?"

"I don't know!"

"Of course you know. Are you?"

"I hate you!"

"Are you?"

"YES!" Natsume shouted at the top of his voice, I could feel his irritation.

"I am! Happy now? Satisfied? Since I first saw her. I fell in love with her when we first met, what the hell did you think?

_OH MY GOD_

_FUCK!_

I ran as fast as my legs would take me, anywhere but here. Anywhere away from him.

I slammed the door on my way out of the building and ran past the trees and into a small wooden shed, I opened the door and it was empty.

I sat inside in silence, shocked at this new revelation.

I rocked back and forth like a madman.

_Did I seriously just hear that? Or was it my imagination?_

I was freaking out and losing my mind. My brain felt as if it were melting. I just couldn't digest it.

_He didn't like me. He doesn't like me._

Why was this so hard to take in? Why was it so hard to believe? He'd kissed me before. _But he only did that to make fun of me. Right. Right?_

It all suddenly made perfect sense; he _did _like me all along. All the times I thought he was teasing, he _really _meant it. And I liked him too.

_No I don't! _

I shook my head; I didn't know what to believe. My mind was stubborn and insistent, _you don't love him! …You don't! _

But my heart said otherwise…

_So now what? _

I wasn't sure why I couldn't tell him how I felt too. Maybe it was just a matter of pride, or maybe it was the fact that if I did, I would be vulnerable.

If I told him, he would officially own my heart and he could do with it as he pleased.

Was it that I was scared of getting hurt? It never bothered me before.

Maybe this is true love.

_No, that's stupid it's not. It can't be. Can it?_

I sat it silence for a long while, waiting. Waiting for someone to wake me from this nightmare I was in.

Contemplating the situation.

Everybody else seemed to adore Natsume, were they too scared to admit it too? Or had he already rejected every girl in school?

That would explain why he was single...

Urghh!

Thoughts of Natsume were invading my mind. I wouldn't let that bastard waste me time, I could be thinking of so many other things that were more worth while.

_Well I could, but I don't want to… _


	9. Competition

"Only two day's left until the competition, are you nervous yet?" I asked Natsume on Thursday evening after lessons.

"Nope, thought any more about dropping out? It's not too late" he reminded me.

"Nope," I said grinning.

"Fine"

"Fine."

He sat on the couch exhausted. He sighed heavily. Normally I would tease him around this time but he looked really depressed.

"What's up?" I asked. "Nerves getting the better of you?" _I couldn't resist!_

He frowned at me, "Nah you wish!"

"What then?" I asked, genuinely curious.

"Nothing"

"Tell me"

"It's nothing!"

I stared at him in disbelief.

"It's just that…"

"Yes?" I prompted.

"Well a friend of mine won't believe me when I tell him something. How can I make him believe me?"

"Believe you about what? You're going to have to be blunter" I told him.

He sighed, "It doesn't matter"

"It does matter! You're no fun to tease like this. All you do is glare, you don't argue back anymore"

"Maybe I've just grown up a bit"

We both looked at each other for a second and burst into fits of laughter.

"Okay maybe not…" he laughed.

I waited expectantly.

He put on a serious face, "Okay so you know Luna?"

I thought back. _Ah chav almighty._ "Yeah I know her"

"Well she's been going out with a friend of mine for two years now and all that time – and a bit before then too – she's been flirting with me and asking me out non stop. She even tried to kiss me and when I told my friend, he didn't believe me and he said I was jealous. How can I make him see?" he asked.

I bit my lip. _She tried to kiss Natsume…Stupid bitch!_

"How many times have you told him about her?" I asked.

"More than I can count" he said.

"Oh that can't be that much then"

He glared at me.

"Sorry, couldn't help myself. Well I think; if he's ignored you for all this time, then he deserves this. He'll find out soon enough and when he does that's _his _problem. You did all you could do. Besides, it won't be long now; she's not exactly the cleverest tool in the box."

He smiled and put his arm around me awkwardly. I gave him a reassuring hug.

That night, I slept peacefully for the first night in longer than I could remember. It was a dreamless night but that's a good thing; my dreams are always weird and end up confusing me the morning after.

The next morning, Natsume's alarm clock woke me up as usual. I got up out of the mattress and went to brush my teeth.

I caught a glimpse of Natsume on my way down; he looked as if he'd had rough night. I smiled apologetically at him.

Natsume was quiet all morning, he didn't even shout at me for taking too long in the bathroom. How I used to hate that, now, I almost wished he would.

We went to breakfast separately as usual and I sat with Hotaru, quietly munching on some cereal even though I wasn't particularly hungry.

"What's wrong?" she asked after about three minutes of silence. I didn't say anything. All that was audible was the _cling_ of my spoon against my plate and my slow, apathetic chews.

"Pissed off" I said monosyllabically after a short, uncomfortable silence.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

I shook my head.

"Okay" she said and she left it there; that is one thing I really love about her - she knows when best to keep her mouth shut.

After breakfast, Hotaru and I walked over to Mr Fedrick's room together. We were a bit late but I knew he wouldn't really mind. He was probably busy shouting at his early-morning tutoring pupil anyway.

Mr Fedrick decided to give me the day off practise so I could rest my voice for tomorrow – meaning everyone had to attend his lesson today. He probably wanted to win even more than I did. And I _really_ wanted to win.

Not surprisingly, everybody was already there – even Natsume who was leaning against a wall casually. I heard Luna's voice and turned to look in her direction.

"Hey!" she beamed and she walked up to Natsume.

He ignored her.

"How are you babe?" she asked touching his chest gently with her too-long (fake) finger nails.

Again, he ignored her; she wasn't put off though and she didn't seem to care that a whole crowd of people was watching her.

She pressed him against the wall with one hand and unbuttoned his shirt with the other.

"Get off you slag!" he yelled, pushing her back.

She smiled and licked her lips, "You're so hot when you're angry" she whispered.

_God does this girl ever give up? Doesn't she understand the term: not interested? What a cow._

Natsume glared at her. She glared back falsely, pretending to be angry "grr!" she said snapping her hand forward like a tiger.

The door opened and I heard a snapping sound.

"Ouch!" I heard Luna's voice cry.

Everybody gathered around. "What's wrong? Are you okay?" even Natsume checked it out looking slightly concerned.

She was crying hysterically and clasping her fingers tightly.

"Is it your hand?" one of her closest friends asked.

Even I stepped closer to examine the damage.

"Should I call the nurse?" Mr Fed asked, not sounding very concerned.

"I…I broke my nail!" she cried.

A loud groan came through the crowd. "Is that it? Sheesh, I thought you'd broken your fingers or something" someone said.

One of her friends shot the person a glare, "It's serious. Losing nails is painful!"

"_No_ listening to you is painful" Mr Fed groaned and the rest of the class laughed in agreement.

Luna got up and walked away, her tear-stained face looking ugly for the first time.

I almost pitied her but I couldn't. I mean come on, a nail? Pfft... I cried less when I accidentally stabbed my leg with a butcher's knife.

Grr… one day; _one day_, I will sort that cow out I vowed.

The rest of the day went pretty quickly. Before I knew it, it was time to go to bed and when I woke up, I would have to get through the competition.

I slept okay; it was a dreamless night again.

When I woke and caught my reflection in the mirror, my eyes widened.

My hair was all over the place, sticking up at all angles. I tried to make a run for the bathroom before Natsume saw me but it was locked.

"Damn it Natsume, the one day I want you to wake up late, you wake up early. You hate me don't you?" I asked with mock outrage.

"Well I need to look my best for the competition. They take photos of the winner you know"

"Oh. Sorry you're right. In that case, take your time, you're going to need all the time you can get to try and make yourself look the slightest bit decent"

"Don't worry I'm done" he said smiling at me as he walked past.

"Well you're in a good mood today aren't you?"

"Yes I am."

"Oh, you haven't looked in the mirror yet"

"I know you lust over me really. I make your bed wet every night"

"Heh, yeah, because you haunt my nightmares!"

"Love me or hate me, you still think about me" Natsume countered.

I laughed _- he can really put up a good argument!_

"Good luck" I wished him as it was time to leave.

"Aww don't worry about me; keep all your luck to yourself. Besides I realised something last night"

"What's that?"

"It's not about winning; it's about making a statement."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" I asked confused.

"You'll see" he said chuckling darkly.

I narrowed my eyes at him suspiciously, "I'm watching you" I warned him.

He laughed, "I'm counting on that" and he stormed ahead of me, into the grand hall.

When I got to the hall it was packed, everybody had come to see the competition and I mean _everybody. _I sat in the front row where the other contestants sat. "Are you nervous?" Mr Fed asked me when he spotted me.

"Nope" I answered honestly.

"Good, because you can win this. I know it" he said patting me on the back and walking over to the side where the other teachers sat.

I saw him talk to a lady next to him and point at me, I tried to ignore him so I spoke to the scene girl next to me.

"Hey"

"Hi"

"You in the competition?" I asked my voice barely audible over the loud chatter of the crowd.

"Yeah, I'm singing solo. You?"

"Same"

"Oh, well good luck!" she said smiling warmly.

"Thanks, you too" I said smiling back.

"Okay Ladies and Gentlemen, quiet please"

It took a while but soon all the chatter hushed down. Then the nerves kicked in. _Oh crap, what am I doing? What am I thinking?! Everyone's gonna laugh at me!_

I tried to ignore the nervous feeling in my stomach as one of the teachers announced the rules and procedures of the competition.

"No lip synching, No talking when someone is singing, cheering for everyone before and after their performance no matter how good or bad…" _blah blah blah…_

"First up, please welcome to the stage Jennah and Conner singing 'No air'"

There was a loud moment of applause and when the music started, everyone quietened down.

Jennah and Conner sounded amazing, their song was great and their voices fitted together perfectly.

It was clear they were a couple and they made a very cute couple at that.

Once they were done, a big round of applause came from the crowd and they both bowed and left the stage hurriedly.

I clapped in the right places but couldn't concentrate properly on the next singers and their songs.

I glanced up when I heard Luna's name being called by the announcer.

_This I had to see._

She strutted on stage confidently, as if on a catwalk and she stood in between her two friends. They were all dressed like supermodels.

Luna, with her perfect eyes, perfect hair and perfect make up, wearing an incredibly flashy, expensive-looking, way too short dress, her blond hair floating delicately on her shoulders. She looked as plastic as ever.

Her friends were wearing matching outfits; short pink skirts and tight white tank tops, incredibly hot but nothing compared to Luna. I guess that was the whole idea though.

The music started and Luna bobbed up and down, clicking her fingers.

"S-T-A-R –all together

S-T-A-R

S-T-A-R

(What?) – (One friend)

(It's Luna bitch!) – (other friend)

(Luna)

I'm on the top,

There's no luck,

Never turn around or stop

Make my move,

Make you move

Make you wanna hear me talk

See me walk

See me _fuck_

See me suck a lollipop mmm…

Wanna get messy?

I'll, make you hot,

Make you rock.

I'll leave the world in shock

I'm the tease

I'm your fuel

I just wanna see you drool

On your knees

Pretty please

You wish you were my main squeeze

Like-like-like luxury

Fuck me, I'm a celebrity

Can't take your eyes off me

I know you wanna (uhh) me just to get somewhere

Fuck me, I'm a celebrity,

Can't take your hands off me

I know you wanna suck me

What you waiting for?

Lip gloss and Lollipops

Let's rock our world of pop

Can't take your eyes off me

I'm all that you can see

Lip gloss and Lollipops

I'll make your jaws drop

Can't take your eyes off me

I'm everything you wanna be

Mmm hot damn here I come

Tell me how you want it done

At the mall, in the hall,

On your mumma's bedroom wall

You can choose

Either way

You will end up on the news

I wanna hear you say,

Love my pink knife

You wish you had a slice of me *knife clings*

Fuck me, I'm a celebrity

Can't take your eyes off me

I know you wanna (uhh) me just to get somewhere

Fuck me, I'm a celebrity,

Can't take your hands off me

I know you wanna suck me

What you waiting for?

Lip gloss and Lollipops

Let's rock our world of pop

Can't take your eyes off me

I'm all that you can see

Lip gloss and Lollipops

I'll make your jaws drop

Can't take your eyes off me

I'm everything you wanna be

O-M-G LOL it's true that sex will always sell

Now it's time for you to go so what?

So what?

Oh-my-God

Can't you tell?

My (uhh) makes you wanna sweat

Are you good enough?

Not yet, not yet

Lip gloss and Lollipops

Let's rock our world of pop

Can't take your eyes off me

I'm all that you can see

Lip gloss and Lollipops

I'll make your jaws drop

Can't take your eyes off me

I'm everything you wanna be…"

(AN: I did NOT write this, this is a song by Jeffree Star, and I do not claim to own it in any way shape or form)

She was dancing around on the stage like someone at a club. I also noticed that she made a lot of eye contact with Natsume.

At the end, when everybody was cheering and wolf-whistling she blew a few kisses to the crowd and left slowly. Huh, that song was _so _predictable for someone like her.

"Next up, we have Natsume Hyuuga and Kei Redmond."

The loudest cheer yet erupted through the crowd and even I was clapping louder than I had for anybody else.

"This song is for a very special girl in the crowd" he said and he winked at Luna, who had resumed her place in the front line. She smiled and giggled flirtatiously.

"Listen carefully."

(A:N/ This song is not mine either, this is called Hofasho by Brokencyde.

The lines with a – in front of them are Kei's lines and the ones that don't have a - are Natsume's lines  for better effect, watch the video on Youtube, it sounds cool really cool, here's the link: .com/watch?v=Dzx3zZpRb78&feature=PlayList&p=584C5125C7066F32&playnext=1&index=18 )

"She's starin',

And the mood is right.

Music blurrin' and the ladies are lookin' nice

I'm lookin' good and you know it too.

But tell me why should I,

Fuck wit you?

She always callin,

Blowin' up my instant messenger.

It's getting hot in here,

I'm turning off the temperature.

This girl is crawling with exotic stripper leopard skirts.

They got's me feeling like I'm never having sex with her!

-You ain't got's to go slow motion

-Hoping that, she'd know the disease.

-Even though she's bleedin'

-I'm leavin'

-Heavy breathin',

-There'll be no conceivin'.

-That's a rap,

-After the big nasty,

-Grabbed me into the happy.

-Gone. Stop.

-This goes no further,

-You couldn't pay me to touch that traunch burger.

What the fuck is a Traunch burger?!?

…

She's always callin',

Blowin' up my instant messenger.

It's getting hot in here,

I'm turning off the temperature.

This club is crawling with exotic stripper leopard skirts.

They got's me feeling like I'm never having sex with her!

I AINT NEVER GUNA FUCK YOU!

YES IT'S TRUE,

ROSES SMELL LIKE, POO POO!

You say you love me

I bet that you do!

But I will

Never,

Ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever *gasping for breath* …ever, ever, ever, ever, ever

FUCK YOU!

I don't wanna have sex with this whore.

-she looks so sexy the way she moves.

I don't wanna have sex any more.

-quit bein' a fucking prune!

I don't wanna have sex with this whore

-but dude, this bitch is hot!

Well I don't wanna have sex anymore!

-just take another shot, or I'll beat the FUCK outta' you.

hahaha, ahh, you son of a bitch!"

The music stopped and Luna ran out of the hall in embarrassment, her two puppy dogs following close behind her.

"Yo man, what the fuck did you do that for!?" someone yelled at Natsume, crawling through the crowd and onto the stage.

"Dude, she's been hitting on me for ages, can't you see she's a whore?" -Natsume through the microphone

"Liar!"

Suddenly, they broke out into a fight across the stage.

What was strange though, was towards the end of the song, the two boys were screaming. Kai sounded genuinely pissed but Natsume sounded like… Like a screamo artist… _Or was that just my imagination?_

I stood up in alarm whilst the teachers ran on stage to try and separate the boys.

I had never see Natsume look so angry…and attractive…

No just angry! And _sexy... grr why does he have to be so good looking!? It makes it so hard to hate him!_

Natsume was completely red in the face and he was huffing and puffing, trying to break free from the teachers' hold. There were about six teachers surrounding him just trying to calm him down.

_What is he thinking? He could so easily be expelled for this!_

"You girlfriend stealer!" his friend accused, struggling with all his might to get his hands on Natsume.

"I don't _want_ her. I never have, look she even tried flirting with Kai, why do you think he was rapping with me today?" Natsume yelled angry.

The other boy stopped struggling and suddenly his face looked upset.

"Is this true?" he asked Kai, his voice breaking.

Kai nodded apologetically, the boys face fell and suddenly, he gathered up enough strength to be rid from the teachers and he ran as fast as he could out of the hall.

I felt so sorry for him. "Should I go after him?" Natsume asked.

"No just leave him to settle down for a bit" a teacher replied.

"Okay everyone sit down, there's still one more performance to go" The announcer called.

_Oh crap…_

Natsume sat in a seat in the middle of the front row. He smiled at me encouragingly. I was too amazed to be nervous at this point.

"Everybody please welcome our newest student and first-time competitor, Mikan uhhh…" He laughed embarrassed, "Mikan!" he said trying to cover up for the fact he didn't know my last name.

I laughed a little and walked onto the stage, I very nearly tripped over a wire.

The sound of cheering and applaud was deafening. I could see Mr Fed in the front row, standing on a chair and chanting loud encouragement.

The music started, I closed my eyes and sang my heart out…

"Here I am

Nobody's woman

Nobody's hero

I'm confused

Sick and diffused

And everything's fine

What about your life

Is alright now

I walk around

I turn around

But nothing looks right

Through my eyes

My eyes

My eyes

Some days

I am beautiful

Oh so beautiful

To me

Some days

I am pitiful

Oh so pitiful

To me

I feel angry

I feel silence

I feel so far away

I feel beautiful

Just not today

It's all smoke

My life's a joke

For no rhyme

Or reason

No one knows

How deep it goes

And everything's

Fine

What about your life

How should I know?

Your sorry but

You'll never find

The pain that I carry

Inside (Inside)

Inside

Someday I'll be

Beautiful

Is this real

'Cause I don't feel

Beautiful

I feel angry

I feel silence

I feel so far away

I am crazy

I'm amazing

I have nothing to say

I'm pathetic

I'm a giant

I'm a moment away

I'll be beautiful

Someday…"

The crowd roared and cheered, a rose flew onto the stage. I laughed and took a bow. I think I did pretty well for a first time. If I do say so myself…


	10. Results

We had an hour break before we found out the results of the competition. People I didn't know came up to me and congratulated me. Everyone seemed sure that I would win.

I knew I did well but I wasn't totally sure that I would win, there were some pretty good singers in the final and the scene girl who had sat next to me – Anna - had a really amazing voice. She had a good chance of winning.

Hotaru patted my shoulder encouragingly, "You were great! You're so going to win!"

"Thanks" I smiled weakly.

I couldn't wait to speak to Natsume, I really wanted to hear what he thought but all through break so far he had been a no-show. I was really disappointed; I tried to think nothing of it. _Come on, he's probably sorting out his friend._

I did see Luna though; she was strutting around, pretending nothing had happened. Fully recovered from the shame and embarrassment from earlier.

I wander what her friends had to say to her to re-boost her confidence like that. _Natsume didn't mean it? Everyone was laughing because they were jealous? You're still going to win?_ _Haha what a gullible twat!_

No doubt, all eyes were on her, but she didn't care. She strutted around, humming her song. Her eyes were still furious but her face was relaxed.

"You fucking slag!"

She turned behind her to see her fuming soon-to-be ex boyfriend. The smile vanished from her face.

"It's not true!" she insisted.

"Don't lie to me, I have proof! Witnesses."

"I - they – we…" she stuttered. "You're _soo _dumped!"

"No I am not cos as far as I'm concerned, we never went out in the first place."

She couldn't think of anything to say to that. _You'd think at least a simple 'sorry' would be nice..._

"There he is!" I heard a familiar voice call. I grinned, _Natsume._

"Get me out of here before I kill her. I could. I could kill her right now!"

Natsume held onto his friends arm and dragged him towards the hall, "Just leave it, she's not worth getting expelled over."

I watched them disappear miserably. I checked my watch, twelve minutes left of our break. I sat and watched the rest of the school resume their previous activities and tried not to think about what was coming next.

It had been a long day – though it was only 2pm - I was tired. Very tired… One eye closed and soon the other did the same.

Before I knew it, Hotaru was shaking me, "Mikan, it's time to go!" I opened my eyes dozily. I knew I'd only been out a few minutes but it felt like I had been asleep for an eternity.

I walked over to the hall, rubbing my eyes and stood on stage with the other competitors. The announcer did a run through of all the singers and the songs they sang, then he continued to blah blah blah (or as he'd tell you talk) about how winning wasn't all that important etc. etc.

"…And without further ado, I'd like the judges to announce the winner." I chewed on my nails nervously.

"Due to vulgar and offensive lyrics, Natsume Hyuuga and Luna (AN:/ T_T I don't know Luna's last name! Sorry x) have been disqualified."

"What?!?" Luna yelled outraged. Natsume kept quiet, his arms were crossed over each other, sitting casually. He grinned.

"_It's not about winning; it's about making a statement" _His words finally made sense. He had intentionally done this, he knew he would get disqualified and he didn't care. _Genius!_

"So in third place, we have…" there was a suspenseful silence. My stomach churned.

"The chav-stars: Jimmy, Kelly and Donny!" There was a big round of applause as the trio went to the middle of the stage to take a bow.

"And in second place is…" another pause, "Anna Anorexia" (Anna's scene name).

I whooped and cheered loudly, she really deserved it. She smiled happily and took a bow. She then did a funny little victory dance that had everyone laughing.

"And the winner is…"

I bit my nails savagely.

The suspense was killing me.

"Mikan uh…"

_Oh come on you had a whole freaking hour to find out my last name!_

"Mikan." said the teacher smiling embarrassed.

I laughed. So from now on I guess I'll be known as just 'Mikan'.

I stepped forward slowly. Everyone clapping and chanting my name. "Mikan! Mikan! Mikan!"

I saw Natsume and he was whooping and cheering louder than anyone. He almost looked proud of me. I smiled sweetly and took a bow. The teacher handed me a golden envelope. "Don't open it yet" she whispered.

"Now let's have a big round of applause for all the contestants" the announcer said.

Everyone cheered and whooped and got out of their seats. Anna gave me a big hug. "Congratulations!" she yelled over the roar of the crowd.

"Thanks, you too." I smiled.

"Thanks." she yelled giving me another hug.

Confetti fell from the ceiling and I danced around randomly in it with Anna, revelling in my victory.

We held hands and jumped around like maniacs, a few people stopped and stared but we didn't care. We danced around drunkenly till our feet hurt.

It was then that we realised that at least three quarters of the people in the room were gone. We looked at each other and laughed.

"Well done!" a voice screamed at me. I turned to see Mr Fedrick running towards me. He held his hand out for a high five.

"Rock on!" Anna laughed enthusiastically.

We were the last two in the hall. It looked so much bigger when there was nobody else in there. "Well we'd better get back to our dorms before the teachers get all shitty. You wanna come over to mine?" she offered.

"No, I need to do something" I replied regretfully.

"Okay, but you're coming over sometime and you're gonna let me do your hair" she said grinning.

"Sure."

"Room 103."

"I'll remember that."

I walked back to my dorm in silence, dancing and twirling every now and then. I was still overwhelmed.

I opened the door which Natsume had left unlocked. Natsume was rapping along to his ipod.

"Yo!" I greeted as I walked in.

He laughed. "Yo!" he called back enthusiastically. "Congrats for winning, how do you feel?" he asked.

"I feel good,

I knew that I would…"

He laughed, his voice sounding a little husky.

"You didn't beat me though," he pointed out.

I pulled a face at him. "Only cos you got disqualified - besides there's always next time."

He laughed, "Better start practising now then."

"Well you can, but I'm busy celebrating."

"What did you win anyway?" he asked. _Oh, I hadn't even given that a second thought._

I pulled the envelope out of my bag and opened it, "Ooh, £200"

"You could use that to help me pay for a big screen TV for our dorm" he hinted. That was the first time he referred to the dorm as 'ours.'

"Or a bed."

"Fair enough."

I sat on the couch next to him. _This is it, the perfect opportunity to tell him how I feel!_

"Natsume?" I asked at the same time as he said "Mikan"

"Yeah?" we both said at the same time.

I glared at him, "Stop that!"

He chuckled "I can't help it."

"Whatever. You first though."

"No. Ladies first."

"Gentlemen just before" I insisted. He glared at me in defeat.

"There's something I want to tell you, but I don't know how you're going to react," he started.

"Try me."

He hesitated, "I really like you Mikan."

"Aww I really like you too!" I said smiling.

"No. I mean I _really_ like you."

I paused hesitantly.

"In what way?" I asked.

He closed his eyes and moved his face towards mine, our lips pressed together gently, soft and experimental. The warm scent of him filled my nose.

Then his tongue flicked out and hesitantly sought entrance into my mouth. I opened for him, welcoming him inside. Our tongues brushed together.

The effects of the kiss ricocheted through my entire body, licking at my blood, sizzling me from inside out. On and on we tasted each other.

Then, his tongue thrust deep into my mouth. Hard. Delicious.

My arms slid up his chest and tangled in his hair. The strands were silky and I could have stayed exactly where I was for ever. His hand trailed up my legs and anchored my lower back. He tugged me forward, until there was nothing but a whisper separating us. This kiss was so different to the last time…

"Mikan" he whispered.

"Natsume."

"I don't want to stop."

"I don't want you to stop either."

"But I have to." there was regret in his tone.

The thought of his mouth pulling away from mine had me moaning in disappointment.

"Just…a little…more."

"Okay. you talked me into it."

He kissed me again. All too soon though, he drew his hands up and around my face, then cupped my cheeks. Slowly, and with regret he ended the kiss.

"So uhhh… what did you want to tell me?" I asked.

He laughed and rolled his eyes.

"You seriously don't get it do you?"

I kept still, my face blank.

"I lust over you Mikan. I _love _you. And by the feel of that kiss, I think it's safe to say you feel the same way. Am I right?" he asked.

"No. Yes. Maybe?"

"Come on, you made me say it."

"Okay fine, I do okay?"

He grinned triumphantly. "That's what I thought."

"You're still an arrogant bastard though."

"And you're still an unintelligible, spoilt lunatic."

"I'm spoilt?! You're the one who had a whole dorm to himself. The one who gets lunch taken to them by desperate girls whom you lead on. The one who the whole school worships!"

"Nah, I'm just popular."

"Spoilt."

"Popular."

"Spoilt!"

"Spoiltly popular," he said grinning and laughing.

I rolled my eyes but laughed with him.

_What an egotistical, superficial, obnoxious jerk! _I still love to hate him. Nothing's going to change that.

"So what did _you_ want to tell _me_?" he asked changing the subject.

"The same thing." I admitted sheepishly.

"Seriously?"

I nodded.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door, it made me jump.

"You get it," we both said at the same time.

I glared at him, "Stop it!" we both yelled at each other at the same time.

_Grr…_

I went up to get the door, I opened it to see a hall full of students, "Hey, congrats! It's time to celebrate!" said one person at the front walking past me before I even allowed him in. Everybody else did the same, they all squeezed past and before I knew it, the dorm was filled with students and loud music was blasting from the radio.

Hotaru saw my worried expression, "Don't worry, the teachers OK'd it."

I loosened up and joined the party, dancing with strangers. Moving from one person to another.

Bodies were flying everywhere. The scene kids even created a little mosh pit. Anna dragged me in and we moshed and swung our arms wildly, not caring who we hit.

I ended up with a nose bleed but I didn't care. Anna just laughed. We partied well into the night, I think it was about four when people started leaving and by five, it was just me and Natsume again.

I yawned and stretched.

"Goodnight."

"Goodnight? It's morning now! Besides, I can't sleep with this mess. I need to clean it up."

"You're insane."

"What's your point?"

He yawned. "Ah well… Whatever floats your boat."

And with that he went to sleep. In minutes, I heard his soft snoring. I turned off the light but put the lamp on so I could see what I was doing.

It took me about thirty minutes to clean the place – a new personal record for me. I crashed on the couch; I couldn't make it to the bed. I was too tired.

When I woke up, I found myself on the mattress. I guess Natsume had woken earlier and moved me. I checked my watch. It was 3pm. Wow; I'd never woken up so late.

I looked around, the place seemed desolate, "Natsume?" I called. There was no response. I inwardly groaned. I didn't want to be alone right now.

I got up and put on some eyeliner and colourful eye shadow. I then got changed into a pair of skinny jeans and a tight band tee. I put on a studded belt and a pair of converse and walked out of the room.

I went out of the building and walked into the one left of it, room 106, 105, 104 Aha! I knocked on room 103. A girl I didn't recognise answered the door. "Hello?"

"Hi, umm is Anna here?"

"Sure. Anna, someone's here to see you!" she called and walked back into the room. A second past and then Anna was at the door "Hey you!"

"Hey."

"Come in!"

I walked in and looked around. There wasn't much space in the room but it seemed just right somehow.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"I didn't want to be on my own," I admitted.

"Aww okay, well take a seat and feel free to come over whenever. You're always welcome!" she said warmly.

"Thanks" I smiled sitting on a stool.

"That was _some _party last night!" she said pouring a drink of coke.

"Yeah, it was awesome!"

"We have _got_ to do it again another time!"

"Definitely." I agreed.

"Want some?" she asked pointing to her coke.

"No thanks."

"Okay. Hey, can I do your hair?" she asked excited.

"Sure."

Suddenly all the girls in the dorm were standing behind Anna, watching with eager faces. She sat me in another chair that looked like it belonged in a salon.

"No-no can you get me some hair spray?" she asked one of the girls.

"Sure" a girl skipped over to a cupboard and pulled out a can of 'Bed Head'.

"Thanks hun."

"You're welcome."

"Oh, sorry, I haven't introduced you yet. Mikan, this is Nonoko – her scene name is Nonoko Nightmare. Zui- her scene name is Zui Suicide. Kiki – her scene name is Kiki Cannibal and Dakota – her scene name is Dakota Diamond."

"Hi" I said shyly.

"Hi" they all beamed at the same time, and then burst into a fit of giggles. Anna and I laughed along with them.

"Hey, wait you need a scene name too!" Said one of the girls – Kiki I think.

"Hmm… Mikan…"

"What begins with 'M'?" Dakota wandered aloud. Everybody was silent with concentration.

_Ooh I got one! _"Macabre."

"Mikan Macabre…" Anna experimented.

The girls looked at each other.

"AWESOME!" they all said in unison.

"That name is perfatastic!*" Nonoko said raising her hand for a high five. I slapped her hand loudly and sat back as Anna did my hair...

(*Perfatastic - A mix of perfect and fantastic.)

"Can I look in the mirror?"

"I'm not done yet!"

"Aww come on!"

"Just give me two more minutes."

_Half an hour later…_

"Okay I'm done now!"

"_Finally!" _I moaned.

"Wait; let me just fix the left side" Zui said. I groaned.

She laughed, "Just kidding!"

I glared at her. She laughed again. I stood up and turned around, facing the mirror.

"WOW!"

My hair looked fantastic; it had never been so…wow. It really screamed "look at me". The girls laughed simultaneously, clapping their hands together.

"Natsume's not gonna be able to take his eyes off you!"

I glared at Anna, "Who says I want him to look at me?"

She rolled her eyes. "Oh come on! It's so obvious!"

"Nothings obvious cos _nothing_ is going on," I insisted. They all looked at me suspiciously.

"Look. Okay so we kissed. It doesn't mean anything. STOP STARING AT ME LIKE THAT!"

There was an enthusiastic "Ooh" coming from all the girls.

I rolled my eyes. "Grow up."

"You're the one who can't admit to liking a boy," Kiki pointed out.

"And _Natsume_ of all boys! I mean come on! _Everyone_ fancies him, there's no shame in admitting it. I even know a few guys who have admitted it!" Nonoko said giggling.

"Really, who?" I asked, trying to change the direction of the conversation.

"Oh. Well there's that guy next door. He's totally hot, it's a shame he's gay I would so tap…Hey wait; we're talking about you here! Admit you like him!"

"No!"

"No you won't admit it, or no you don't like him?"

"Both. Wait no, I mean I don't like him!"

"Sure!" Nonoko said sarcastically.

"You're so stubborn!" Dakota moaned.

I crossed my arms over my chest. "Get used to it."

"Do you like him?"

"Why do you keep asking me that?!"

"Just answer and we'll shut up" Anna promised.

"Okay fine. It's possible, that I _might _like him in the teeniest, tiniest, most miniscule way imaginable."

"Aww you guys make such a cute couple! Are you going to date him? If you're not I'll gladly have him!" Kiki offered eagerly.

"God, we've only just admitted we like each other. What do you think tomorrow I'll jump into bed with him?"

"If you want." Dakota said as if there were nothing wrong with the prospect.

"And if not, my offer's still in place!" Kiki grinned cheekily.

I laughed, they were all pretty stupid and annoying in all honesty but they were good to be with. Good friends.

"So now you're totally scene!" Anna mused, admiring my hair and outfit.

I smiled, "Not _totally_ but it's starting to become one of my favourite labels."

"But soon… we will take over you're mind. You'll be our evil little Scenester" said Anna rubbing her hand together mischievously.

"You wish."

"Yeah I do actually. We're the smallest group in the whole school, we need as many newbie's as we can get!"

"Well you're going to have to find a way of dealing with having only 1/5th of me."

They all stared at me stunned.

"Wow, you're so good at maths!" Dakota beamed admiringly.

I rolled my eyes.

_And I thought I was bad!_

I left a little while later, an hour before dinner. I wanted to go back to my dorm, to spend a little time with Natsume. For some strange reason I actually missed him. Or maybe it was just a great hunger for insulting somebody.

Either way I wanted to see him.

I opened the door, knowing it wouldn't be locked. It never was.

"Hello?" I called.

"Ignore her." A voice ordered.

_Who was it? I know I recognise that voice from somewhere…_

"Bitch, you're a straight up hustler. Leave me and my friends the hell alone."

"Come on, I understand that before, you couldn't date me because of you're friend. Well I'm single now." The voice said, sounding seductive.

… _Luna. Of course! I should have known._

"When will you get the fucking message? I'm. Not. Interested. I don't like you. I never have. Leave me the hell alone you physco! Stop. Get off!"

"Natsume?" I called worried, searching around the dorm. I tried the bathroom; it was locked.

"Luna, open this door right now!" I yelled.

"Get lost bitch, this had nothing to do with you!" _Okay, now I'm officially pissed._ I took five steps back and charged into the door.

"Ouch!"

I heard Luna cackling. Then, I heard a loud smacking sound and a bang; something big had just hit the floor.

"Natsume are you okay?" I asked worried.

There was no reply.

I tried again, stepping further back this time, picturing Luna's smug face in my head. I rammed into the door furiously and it swung open.

To my surprise, there was Natsume, standing up straight, his fist shaking angrily. It was bruised. I looked to the ground and there was Luna, out cold. She had a big red and purple bruise on her right cheek and her lip was bleeding a bit.

"You didn't!" I asked Natsume dumbfounded.

He didn't say anything.

I looked at him in disgust and dropped to the floor, shaking Luna wildly. She didn't open her eyes. I placed her head carefully back on the ground, watching closely. I saw a small smile on her lips and her eyes peeked open.

"Honestly Mikan, you're so gullible! You should have seen your face! And Natsume, I can't believe you would hit a girl! Wait till the teachers find out you knocked me unconscious!" she threatened.

"But he didn't!"

"But they don't know that do they?!" She asked shooting an evil glare at Natsume.

"I could even say you tried to rape me…" she continued.

"Nobody will believe you!" I shouted.

"They might. I'm a pretty good actor when I want to be. Besides, I'd know exactly how to react. Isn't that right Natsume?" she asked smugly.

Natsume looked away from her, his whole body shaking in fury.

I examined her bruise again and I noticed – with satisfaction that it looked pretty serious. "You wouldn't dare" I tried to sound stern like a teacher; or the head teacher. That woman could frighten the devil.

"Wouldn't I?" she asked.

I kept quiet.

"Hey I have an idea. We'll have a sing-off, if you win I won't say anything to anybody, I'll say I got this bruise by walking into a post or something." She said breaking the silence.

I swallowed, "And if you win?"

"Then I can do whatever the hell I like to Natsume and you can't stop me."

It would help if I knew what she had in mind_… Maybe she wanted to beat him up a bi, to make herself feel better. Or maybe she was still deluding herself into thinking he wants her and was planning on forcing him to go out with her? _Whatever it was, I didn't like the sound of it. And there was a good chance she would win. She's an incredible singer.

"Natsume?" I asked gently.

"Do whatever. I don't care anymore." He said, his voice struggling to remain calm.

"You can either_ try_ to save your _boyfriend,_" she spat the word, "Or you can give up now and I'll tell everyone what a monster he is. Will he get arrested? Probably. Will he get kicked out of school? Definitely." She was right. I had to at least_ try_.

I took a deep breath, praying I wouldn't regret this decision. "Fine," I whispered.

"Excellent."


	11. Natsume & Luna

It had been about thirteen minutes since Luna left the dorm but Natsume and I were still in place as if time had froze us.

We didn't speak a word, but I could feel the anger heating out of Natsume.

I stared at the floor, worried, confused, annoyed, angry… A mix of emotions flooding through me.

"Are you really going to try?" Natsume asked, cutting into the silence.

"Sure. I've got nothing to lose."

"She's clever, I'll give her that. If you lose, there is no chance of me staying at this school. I might as well pack now."

"Oh well thanks for the support (!)" I replied dryly.

"She's clever; she knows how to screw people over."

"Are you saying you think I'm going to lose?!" I demanded.

"No, just be careful. I don't trust her."

"Oh darn, and there I was about to tell her all of my secrets."

Natsume glared at me.

"Well I guess I'd better start writing a song."

"Yeah, you do that. I'm going to Rian's crib. Don't wait up. I'll be drinking till I can't get up."

"Well have fun with that (!)"

"I plan to." And with that, he left. Leaving me to do all the hard work. Writing a whole freaking song for him. I didn't even get so much as a 'thank you' from the stupid jerk.

_Why am I helping him again? _I found myself wondering.

_Oh yeah cos we have something in common, we both hate Luna._

I stayed up all night writing and re-writing lyrics.

"Grr, this sucks!" I screwed up the twelfth piece of paper which was creased and covered in eraser shavings and threw it in the bin.

The problem was, I didn't know what to write. I didn't know what I was supposed to write. Maybe I should ask Luna? The thought of having to seek out my enemy for help was sickening but it had to be done.

I went to the chav block. I didn't get many stares; I was welcome in every block (I noticed recently with satisfaction).

"LUNA, THIS IS THE SECOND TIME YOU HAVE BEEN RUDE TO ME THIS WEEK. DETENTION FOR THE REST OF THIS MONTH. EVERY LUNCHTIME. SEE YOU THERE!" a teacher screamed.

_A part of me enjoyed seeing my enemy reamed. The other part of me really enjoyed seeing my enemy reamed. Too bad I had to speak with that enemy…_

I'd have bet that would have put her in a foul mood but to my surprise she turned to her friends and laughed.

Suddenly, she saw me and she stopped laughing. "Here to knock me unconscious?" she asked, not caring who heard.

I glared at her.

Her friends stared at each other confused.

"Give us a minute?" She asked, pushing them away without even waiting for a reply.

They looked at one another hesitantly but after an impatient, threatening glance from Luna they backed away.

"What do you want?" she growled.

I sighed; I was really going to sound ignorant and stupid asking this. But I had to. Or I could… No I _had_ to ask.

"Luna, I don't know what kind of song is expected of me. What kind of thing are you going to sing?"

"Just sing whatever. I don't care. My song is about you." she added grinning evilly.

_So that's how she wants to play it, huh?_

"Fine."

I turned to leave but she held onto my shoulder, grinning at me. "Oh and let's make it more interesting. If you lose, I'll say you helped Natsume."

That's when I lost it. "Why?! What the fuck is your problem exactly?! Do you just enjoy making people's life hell or what? Are you just naturally a bitch?" I yelled angrily.

"You think this is hell? You ain't seen nothing yet bitch."

I had to do it. I had to. My hand raised and I slapped her with all my force.

She held her cheek tightly. Wincing in pain, but when she faced upwards, she smiled at me. "Nice one. See you on Wednesday. Good Luck for the competition. You'll need it."

_Humph. She is seriously psychotic._

I stalked out of the building and went back to my dorm. I couldn't write any lyrics. I didn't bother. I just went straight to the medicine cabinet, downed a few sleeping pills - they were Natsume's but whatever, he won't care- and went to bed.

I woke up groggily to the sound of Natsume's alarm.

Sunlight streamed through the curtain-less windows.

The crimson-tinted light stretched towards me, too bright, unwelcome, enveloping my mattress and chasing away the thick fog in my mind.

I stretched my arms over my head and arched my back. God I ached.

My bones, my muscles and my head throbbed like I'd been the meat in a three-car pileup- and two army tanks had been the bread.

I forced my eyes open, the intense light making them sting and water. As if I'd been in a dark cave for thousands of years and had only now awakened.

_Damn it. Lessons today. _I wondered if I was allowed to call in sick or something.

I really didn't feel well and I _had _to start on the song, there were only three days left until the sing off.

I closed my eyes again. I didn't get out of bed and after about half an hour of laying still with my eyes shut a knock sounded from the wall – or was the knocking coming from inside my brain? – I groaned.

"Mikan," a deep voice said.

I groaned again, if I ignored him, he might go away and I could sleep a little longer. I could -

"Mikan!" His voice cajoled determinedly.

No, he wouldn't go away. "What?" I grumbled.

"Do you plan on having a shower any time today?" he asked.

"Sick."

"Sure you are."

"I am!"

"You're an awful liar Mikan. Just go."

"I really can't get out of bed."

"Then I'll drag you out. You're not having a day off if I'm not allowed one."

"Natsume!" I moaned.

"Ouch! Do you have to speak so loud? My head hurts. I'm hung-over remember?"

I didn't have it in me to argue with him. "Sorry," I mumbled.

"Hey what's wrong?" he asked, sounding concerned now. Probably because I'd made it a whole three minutes without insulting him.

"Nothing. I'm tired. Tired of Luna. Tired of everything."

His face had a pained expression on it.

Okay, I had to ask. "What is it with you and her? Do you have history or something?" I asked.

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Please, I just want to understand" I begged.

"We used to be tight okay? We were friends."

"And? What happened? How come you hate her now?"

"Do I have to say it?" he asked guiltily.

"Yes." I insisted.

He paused, composing his face and trying to find the right words.

I waited patiently and made myself comfortable upright on my mattress.

"… One night… It was just one night. I was mad at her. I didn't know she felt so strongly about me…"

"What are you talking about?"

He sighed. "Like I said, we used to be friends. One day, we were both drunk and having a laugh and she said to me. She said 'I love you' and I lost it. I don't know why but I was so angry at her.

I left her, with a load of alcohol and drunken guys," he stopped talking and I was sure I saw a hint of a tear in his eyes. He stopped for a while but then continued.

"I thought nothing of it in the morning. I was naive, I guess I thought we could be friends again and I went to see her to apologise. She was in her room. Alone. Shaking.

She looked like a zombie. Then I realised she was naked, the only thing covering her was a towel.

I asked her what was up and she couldn't speak. All week, she stayed in her room, pale as a ghost. They had a physcologist visit her. She wouldn't speak to anybody.

I had gone to visit her a while afterwards, her other friends had abandoned her, they couldn't deal with it. Couldn't handle her. I sat with her and suddenly, she spoke…"

He stopped and the hurt in his expression was visible.

"What did she say?" I asked.

He rubbed his eyes with his hands, pretending to have an itch.

"She told me that a man had raped her, asked me why I left her. I couldn't say anything. It was all my fault and I knew it. She kept asking me why I left her. Why did I leave her? I was stupid. I should have known something would happen.

And afterwards, she was still shook up but she got back to normal in the end. But she didn't have any help. She didn't tell anyone except me what had happened. And I didn't really help much - I didn't know how to. She had to cope with it all by herself."

It took me a while to digest what he had just said. I thought about it and thought about it but it didn't work out. "Are you sure that really happened?"

"You can't fake something like that, you didn't see her. She was seriously messed up."

"Still though, it wasn't your fault. You didn't force the guy to sleep with her. She's not your responsibility. She should have taken better care of herself."

"But it would have never happened if I didn't over-react."

I sighed and gave Natsume a hug. I finally understood Luna's attitude.

But one thing I didn't understand was why she dressed in such short clothes; did she want it to happen again? And why does she still flirt with Natsume? Is it to make him feel bad? Or does she seriously like him that much?

"I feel so sorry for her."

"Yeah but life's a bitch. What can you do? Oh and don't tell her I told you, she'd chop my balls off!"

"Hmm… I might just test that theory."

Natsume glared at me. I laughed at him and eventually he laughed too.

"Do we have to go to lessons?" I asked.

"If you want to stay at this school then yes."

"Damn it!!"

"You get used to it."

"What if you're sick?"

"School policy is: If you're well enough to get out of bed, you're well enough to go to lessons."

"Ouch."

"You can say that again!"

I reluctantly got up and dragged myself into the bathroom had a (looonnngg) shower and got dressed. I didn't even moan when Natsume stared at me. I didn't have the energy to argue properly.

Lessons were a drag as usual and breakfast and lunch were silent, insignificant occasions. By dinner time I had had more than enough, I just wanted to hide away from the world.

In my last lesson of the day, I cheered up a bit and tried to start writing while the teacher was God-knows-where.

I started on a few lines down but decided that they were no good, I screwed up the paper and threw it backwards.

"Who through that?!" Someone screamed, it was only then that I realised I hadn't seen Luna all day before now.

"It was you wasn't it?!" She said glaring at me furiously.

A few people next to me were trying not to laugh.

I ignored her. She flattened out the paper and read the words silently. She laughed cruelly and threw the paper back at me. It bounced off my nose and she laughed harder.

"Please don't sing that, it will make it too easy to beat you."

I growled and looked away.

"What? Is there another competition coming up? Already?" someone asked over hearing her words.

Luna stood up, "I can't believe Mikan hasn't told you all yet!" Everyone turned their attention to Luna.

"What?" several people asked.

"Mikan and I are gonna have a sing off tomorrow. In the back of the field. Anyone brings a teacher, there'll be beef. Got it?"

"Cool!" a girl I didn't recognise said smiling at me.

"Good luck Luna!" a chav-boy said. She smiled sweetly at him (gag!)

I heard footsteps stomping into the room.

"Right class, shut up and copy these notes!"


	12. OMFG didnt see this one coming

I went to bed early again, I wasn't tired but I just lay there feeling crap.

I still didn't have a song; I didn't know what I was going to do.

_If only I could rip up her smug little make up smeared face…_

_Hmm…_

A flash of inspiration hit me and suddenly I rushed to get paper and a pen. I scribbled down a few lines and sung them aloud. _Hmmm… not bad… _

I continued writing and editing till my hand ached, the song wasn't amazing but it was good. Good enough to get me an A in an exam? Most probably. Good enough to beat Luna? I could only pray.

It was all I had to work with so I didn't really have another option. I memorised the lyrics and put the sheet safely in my bag – just in case.

I slept peacefully that night but the morning came too freaking bright and early. I wished more than anything to get a few extra hours of sleep. Nonetheless, I got up slowly and had a long shower.

I hadn't seen Natsume since first lesson yesterday. I was worried about him but I tried not to think too much about him now. I had the sing-off to worry about and that was already more than enough worry for my head to take in at once.

I'll deal with Natsume later, I promised myself.

I got dressed and did my hair half expecting Natsume to walk through the door but he didn't.

What if he had done something stupid? No. I shook the thought from my head.

_FORGET NATSUME!_ My mind screamed. _Okay, okay, wait just one last thought; what a hottie! Okay I'm done._

I took a quick glance in the mirror, fixed my hair and when I was satisfied, I went to the hall for breakfast.

Everyone came rushing out at me at once, "Good luck Mikan!" "Why are you having a sing-off Mikan?" "I'm sooo gonna be there supporting you!" "I'll vote for you!"

_Grr… it was really irritating. _I forced myself to smile, pretend everything was cool. I needed as many people to vote for me as possible.

Waiting and thanking everyone, my smile never wavering, proved more difficult than most things I'd ever done. But I did it.

For the most part I pretended I was excited and looking forward to the sing-off. Pretending like I wasn't wishing everyone who approached me would leave me the hell alone.

By lunch, my smile was brittle and my pretend happiness on the verge of total annihilation. Allow me to explain why.

Number of times people I didn't know had wished me good luck: 21

Number of times Luna flashed me a fake smile at me: 6

Friends who had disappeared: 1

Number of times said friend crossed my mind: 38

Number of homicides slimly avoided: 279

_Smile_, I reminded myself during last lesson. Not _long now. It will all be over soon._

_But what if it isn't over? What if she wins?_ No I couldn't think like that, I had to be positive. Had to be positive. Positive.

I must have fallen asleep or something because the next thing I was aware of, I was standing in the back of the field, ready (well not exactly) to perform. Everyone was watching me expectantly.

"Well who's ready for a battle?" Luna asked warming up the crowd.

"No. Stop!" a voice called from a distance. I gasped and turned. _Natsume!_

He reached us and he was panting hard. His face trickled with sweat.

"Oh Natsume, how nice of you to join us," Luna said dryly.

We both ignored her, "Where the hell have you been?!"

Natsume had got his breath back now. "I'll explain later. Have you sung anything yet?"

"Nope. Not yet."

"Good. Mind if I sing instead?"

"Sing?!" everyone asked.

"Yeah…?" Natsume asked confused.

"Don't you mean rap?" Luna asked.

Everyone turned to stare at him questioningly.

"Actually I've got a confession to make, I'm gangsta – you all know that – but what you didn't know is that I'm scene too."

My eyes widened, I was shocked. I should have known really, he had said some pretty non-gangsta stuff to me. And the competition, when I thought I'd heard him doing screamo… I suspected something was up but I never really thought about it much.

The crowd was silent. Natsume grinned. "For real?" I asked, sounding – and probably looking – as if I'd seen a ghost.

"Yeah." He replied as if there were not much to it.

A thousand jaws dropped to the ground.

All of the scene girls screamed excitedly, Anna even ran up to Natsume and hugged him. He gently pried her away from himself.

"I love you Natsume!" she yelled happily and she reached her hand out for a high five. He high fived her and she jumped up and down clapping. "Aww this is so cool!"

"I have a confession to make too," Hotaru stepped forward, I didn't realise she'd been avoiding me until now, she hadn't spoken to me all week, "I'm a geek as well as an emo. I've been avoiding you Mikan lately because I thought she would have worked it out. I'm sorry." I went and hugged her to let her know she was forgiven.

Suddenly, random people stepped forward and began taking it in turns to confess. It turned out that quite a few people had known all along that they didn't belong to just on group, they were just too scared to admit it.

"Okay enough, we get the point!" Luna yelled when she had had enough. "Have you all forgotten why we're here?!" she yelled outraged.

"No one cares Luna, give it up," said Natsume.

Her eyes narrowed to slits and her face turned red. "You bastard, you have no right to tell me what to do!"

She stepped towards him and the crowd made a circle surrounding the three of us.

"Luna please-" I begged.

"Shut up, this isn't about you."

She looked Natsume in the eyes and began rap/singing.

"Fuck you.

If I had it my way I'd slit your throat with the knife you left in my back

All the shame, all this guilt, all this regret, that's me

I'm inside of you and this is your world

Fucking falling apart mate, from the inside out

Everything will fall apart at your feet – you've got hell to pay

And you better fucking bow down to me

You better beg for mercy

Get on your fucking knees and cry me a fucking river

Sleep with one eye open,

Best friends means forever, cunt."

Suddenly, she turned her gaze to the crowd. "You wanna know something? Natsume, the guy you loved for-mmm-" her words were muffled as I put my hand over her mouth.

I punched her hard in the stomach twice; I really couldn't take any more of her bullshit. Luna scratched at my face and my nose bled but I kept going. She knocked me to the floor and before we knew it we were in a full-blown fight.

Natsume ran over and tried to hold me back.

"Hey, what's going on here?!" A stern voice demanded.

Everyone turned, Natsume was still struggling to grip me and I was still struggling to reach Luna.

"Mikan!"Natsume hissed.

_Oh crap it's a teacher. _

"Mikan, what are you trying to do to Luna?" the teacher asked.

I stopped squirming and Natsume let go of me. Nobody said a word.

"You can either tell me what's going on here or I'll bring the head mistress and you can explain to her. Which will it be?"

I swallowed but kept quiet.

"You!" he pointed threateningly to a short, skinny geek. "Tell me what's going on here." he demanded

Even I was scared. I felt sorry for the little kid he was shouting at.

"It's my fault," I said, saving the geek from wetting himself.

The teacher turned to me. "I knew you'd be trouble, as soon as you got here, I knew it. You should have never been allowed in this school, and I'll make sure you aren't allowed to come back." The teacher claimed.

"But Mr Bradford" Natsume cried desperately "She didn't-"

"Thanks for your help, Mr Bradford," Luna said, fighting an evil grin. "I wasn't sure what to do when Mikan threatened me."

"But–" Natsume tried.

I banged my fist against a tree, "figures I'd get the blame." I spun around and stalked away, not glancing backward.

Natsume tried to follow but Mr Bradford- evil man that he was- sent him away.

He sat me in the office on an uncomfortable, non-cushioned seat – a subtle punishment meant to keep students away.

I waited for a good twenty minutes before I heard light footsteps coming through the back door.

"Psst!"

I turned confused, I saw Hotaru's face shy in through the door, she looked around cautiously and when she was finally sure that we were completely alone for the while, she stepped in.

I didn't say anything. "Sorry for ignoring you," she said misinterpreting my silence.

"It's okay."

"Well I've got some news that might make you feel better!" she said cheerfully.

"Doubt it."

"No really, it's hilarious. After you left, Anna and her friends picked a fight with Luna and she's seriously been put in her place.

It was so great watching Anna slap her! And after, Luna said that Natsume raped her and everyone was even madder at her for lying and even her friends told her she was a bitch."

I couldn't help smiling.

"And the best part is that the chavs have disowned her. They don't want anything to do with her. Nobody wants to be associated with her. Everyone reckons she'll leave the school."

"Yeah well… If Mr Bradford has his way so will I."

Hotaru sighed. "He always was one of the meanest teachers…"

"I don't want to leave," I sniffed.

Hotaru hugged me, but didn't say anything. I heard footsteps approaching; Hotaru quickly squeezed my shoulder for support and hurried to leave.

The headmistress walked in and following behind her, Natsume and Luna – who had a red hand mark over her cheek (gold star to Anna for giving her that!)

"Sit." She ordered the two of them, pointing to the chairs next to me. Natsume sat in the space next to me and Luna sat next to him. Tomb-like silence claimed the room.

The headmistress looked like the perfect candidate for _Make your teen obey_ magazine.

She sighed and shook her head. "You were destined for such great things, why did you ruin it? You had so much potential! Both of you!" She said pointing at me and Luna.

I looked down at my shoes guiltily. "You do know it's against the rules to have an unauthorised competition or sing-off don't you Mikan?" she asked.

I looked up at her and nodded. Her face expression seemed disappointed. "You're bringing a bad name to the school. We have a highly respected reputation, if anyone on the outside knew…" _She made the school sound like a prison. _

"Well, it's just not allowed, we can't tolerate these kinds of things going on without supervision because we know it is likely to end in a fight. You proved that theory today." She added.

She stopped and turned to Luna, "Luna, this school has invested a lot of money in you, we have brought you counsellors, therapists…etc we only did that because we know you can do well. We wouldn't have bothered otherwise.

After that incident, you changed. You weren't the same innocent, sweet girl anymore. I know what happened but the other teachers don't. You lied to people, you broke the rules and I understood.

The other teachers asked me to expel you and I refused. But honestly, blackmailing people? Fighting? This is inexcusable."

"I'm sorry," she whispered and she actually sounded as if she meant it.

The headmistress smiled apologetically at her. "I don't think I can let either of you stay here after this."

Luna looked up at her desperately, "No, please!" she begged.

"Please!" I begged a perfect mimic of Luna.

"I'm really sorry girls."

"No, you- you can't."

"I don't want to but I must."

"If Mikan goes so do I!" Natsume threatened.

She shot him a glare.

"Don't be absurd child. You're staying here."

"No!"

"You can't keep him here!" I said.

"I can and I will."

"What right do you have?" I asked.

She snorted, "_Right_?! What right do _I_ have? I'm his grandmother! I have every right."

There was a second of silence, "You're my what?!" Natsume asked.

She grinned self-righteously, "That's right, my darling grandson, I'm Susan's mum."

…


	13. 0O Are you for real?

(AN: I'm gonna start writing about alices but it's different to the ones in the Gauken Alice manga, please don't moan at me for mixing things up a bit.

Thanks and keep reading. –hugs-

Bring Solin The Horizon x)

"No…" Natsume whispered.

He rubbed his temples, as if he hadn't quite heard right.

"Are you going to give me a hug then or what?" she asked, unaffected by his shockedness.

Natsume didn't move a muscle.

"I was always disappointed when your mother changed her last name…" the headmistress continued unbothered by Natsume's neglecting.

"Deep down, you're still a Hamilton, my son. You were always more like me than your mother; she always managed to disappoint me."

Natsume jolted up, the anger in his body evident, "Don't speak about my mum like that! She died working for you and yet she's a disappointment? No, I am _nothing _like you." he spat the words viciously.

_His mums dead? I didn't know that… I know how he feels. I missed my parents so much. Mrs Hamilton might as well have stuck a knife through his chest…_

I noticed Hammy's (Hammy- nickname for Mrs Hamilton) eyes turned a dark black colour. Her pupils completely disappeared.

"You will speak to me with respect!" she roared.

"I speak to you with as much respect as you deserve," Natsume muttered.

Hammy's whole body shook in anger; I'd never seen such a negative display of emotions from her.

Suddenly, the floor began vibrating and everything was a blur. It was like an earthquake. I couldn't scream; I didn't have a chance. I didn't know what was going on. A flash of red alerted me and I focused my eyes.

Suddenly, I realised that the office was burning. There was a loud shriek from Hammy- only Hammy wasn't there anymore; in her place was a small, glossy bat. It flew out of the window.

I watched it confused and bewildered. _What the hell is going on?_ Where did Hammy go? _Was that my imagination? _

"MIKAN!" Natsume roared pulling on my arm and trying to make a run for the door. I couldn't move, I was totally immobile, too many unexplainable things had happened at one time for me to comprehend.

"Mikan just come!" Natsume yelled dragging me, I forced my legs to move and I ran out of the building. We ran to the front of the school and watched as it burned. I couldn't take it, my mind was jumbled. I felt light headed and dizzy. I fell back and entered the world of unconsciousness.

"Is she okay?"

"She's still breathing."

"What should we do?"

"Just wait for her to wake up I guess."

I opened one eye; I was in a dimly lit room. I opened another eye and on closer inspection I realised I was in my dorm.

"Mikan?! Are you okay?" Natsume asked sounding genuinely concerned.

"Water," I croaked.

Anna – who I was just aware of - rushed over to get me a glass of water. "Here-" she said handing it to me.

I drank some of the water and thanked her, luckily my voice sounded a bit better now.

"Did you faint Mikan?" another voice asked. _Jeez how many people are here?_

"I- I don't know. What happened? I don't understand."

Anna, Natsume and Hotaru looked at each other hesitantly and unsurely.

"Dude, just tell her already," a voice I didn't recognise said from behind me. I looked back to see a guy I didn't recognise leaning against the wall casually, with his arms crossed.

"Tell me what?!" I demanded.

"I don't really know how to put it."

"Put what!?"

"Well… You see… Ummm… When you came to this school and you first saw all of the groups, you knew that they had something in common right?" he asked.

"Yeah. They all looked like family, really similar but different too." I replied.

"Well that's because…" he paused.

"Oh just spit it out Natsume! Come on, the suspense is killing me!" I beseeched throatily.

"She's gonna freak out," Natsume said to nobody in particular.

I slapped his arm impatiently.

"Oh so you can barely speak but you can hit me just fine! Trust you."

I glared at him.

"Look, so they were all the same. Did that not seem a bit weird to you? I mean didn't they look all too similar in some ways?" Natsume asked as if hinting at something.

"Well yes I guess so…"

"That's because, they're all part of the same species. Or so we first thought…"

"Species? Aren't they human?"

"Well… Yes and no. You see, the students here are special. They have powers- called 'alices' – Each label had their own special alice. I found out a while ago that I had more than one alice, but I kept quiet. I didn't know how others would react and when you got here, well…"

I was sure my mouth was as wide open as my eyes. I stood up and bounced with excitement. "Do I have an alice too? What's my alice? What's my alice?!" I asked excitedly.

Everyone looked at each other, "Uhh… well we don't know," Anna replied.

"What's yours? What can scene kids do?" I asked, completely reeled in.

"We have the power to make anything – no matter how ugly – look amazing. Cool huh?" Anna asked grinning.

"Oh." I was silently disappointed; I was hoping the alices would be something a little bit more rock and roll.

Anna laughed, "I'm joking baka, that's just a natural talent scene kids are born with- especially me! – But no, scene kids' alice is the ability to fly – sort of. We can jump and leap over extraordinary distances. Cos we're cool" Anna added, posing as if someone were taking a picture of her.

"Show me!"

"Haha….well I don't like to show off but if you insist… I guess it would be rude to deny you," Anna shot out of the (open) window. It must have been at least five stories high. She flew as gracefully as a swan and when she jumped back through the window she resembled action woman.

I rolled my eyes, "Yeah, way to keep it subtle!"

She smiled, "Sorry, I couldn't help myself."

"Well you're sooo lucky to be able to do that!! What about the gangstas? And chavs? And everyone else? What can they do?" I asked.

"Watch me," Natsume instructed.

"Okay…" I said not sure what to expect.

Natsume stood still, his eyes focused on a spot on the wall. I could almost see a little bull's eye target where he was directing his eyes. A red, flashy laser thing extended out of Natsume's eyes.

He burnt a hole right through the wall. He stopped and turned to grin at me. "It's usually bigger and better than that, but I kept it small so that I didn't burn this room. I could probably blow up the school if I tried."

I was speechless. How many shocks can one person take before they collapse?

"Hotaru?" I whimpered, taken aback a bit.

I stared at her for a long while and she didn't move. She stood still as a statue. "Hotaru?! Speak to me! Show me you're alice!"

"Shush!" she hissed

"Sorry."

I waited, and suddenly, Hotaru began to fade and before I knew it, she had completely disappeared. "Hotaru?! Where are you? That is so cool!"

Hotaru appeared behind me, she put one hand on my shoulder. It made me jump.

"And the chavs have super speed. And the geeks' alice is pretty obvious, they're freaking smart asses!" Anna chirped.

"Wait, so I have all of these alices?" I asked.

Everybody shrugged. _Fat load of help they were!_

"How do I use my alice?" I asked.

"You just… power it. It's hard to describe.

Focus your mind on the thing you're trying to do and then do it. I'm Ruka by the way, I don't think I ever got the chance to introduce myself, Anna speaks too much. I never got a chance." The boy at the back said smiling at Anna. She glared at him and they both laughed together.

"Ooh, Ooh, Ooh, I wanna try the fire alice!"

"What are you, a monkey?" Hotaru asked.

I glared at her but otherwise ignored her comment. I tried to focus my mind on shooting fire, it took me about two minutes to get totally focused – a lot longer than it took Natsume- and then I aimed for a similar spot at the same wall.

_One, two, thr-_

"_AAAHH!" _I screamed and fell back. A huge blast of fire shout out of me, burning the skin on my face and – as I looked up, - I noticed that the wall had completely disappeared. Shattered glass covered the floor. Smoke rose from seemingly nowhere.

There was a cold wind coming through the space where the wall had been just seconds ago. Everyone was shielding themselves protectively.

When they realised I had stopped, they looked up to inspect the damage.

"Oh crap."

Nobody moved an inch. Suddenly and without warning, a teacher stormed in.

"This better not be what it looks like," the teacher – Mr Bradford from earlier- warned.

Nobody could look him in the eyes.

"You idiots! Why are you awake at this hour? And more importantly, why did you let her use that alice? She's not properly trained yet. She could have burned the whole school!" he shrieked shaking his fist.

"I-I'm sorry!" Hotaru stuttered.

"First Mrs. Hamilton's office and now here, where else are you going to wreck, huh? You stupid kids."

"But sensei-"

"But nothing! As punishment, I'm going to make you all pay for the materials to fix the wall."

"What?!" Anna asked outraged.

The teacher glared at her.

"-And, you can all fix it as well seeing as you're so keen."

Anna's mouth fell wide open.

"We don't know anything about how to fix a wall though!" Ruka said, evidently trying to keep his tone light.

"And you can re-wallpaper it too, anyone else want to comment? The teacher challenged. He smirked triumphantly. "Good. That's what I thought; I'll be back later to collect the money. It will be 40 rabbits each."

Anna's mouth fell open, "Forty?!"

"Fifty."

Anna's face turned an unhealthy, ghostly white. Her fists were clenched so tightly that I wouldn't be surprised if she cut a hole through her hand.

Nobody said another word until after Mr Brandon left and was out of earshot.

"What a bastard!" I moaned.

"You can say that again!" Anna huffed.

Then I had an epiphany, "Wait, the bat- Hammy, Uhh… I mean Mrs Hamilton- is that her alice? She can turn into a bat?"

"She's a shape shifter" Ruka clarified for me.

"Oh. So what happened to her? Where is she?"

"Gone to meet Dracula for all I care." Natsume said dryly.

"What are you going to do about her?"

Natsume sighed, "I don't know. Hey, I'm kind of tired now; can you guys go back to your dorms please?"

"Oh sure, sorry. Oh my God it's like 3 am. How did we lose track of time so easily?" Anna wandered aloud.

Nobody had an answer to that. One by one, they said their goodbyes and left.

As Hotaru closed the door behind her, I glanced at Natsume. He didn't look tired; he looked anxious. "Do you want me to turn out the light?" I asked.

"No, I want to ask you something."

"I thought you were tired."

Natsume didn't bother answering; he simply gave me a meaningful look.

"What's up?" I asked sitting up by him.

"I want you to do something outrageous with me. I don't know if you will though. It depends if you meant what you said that night."

"Which night?" I asked, confused.

"When you told me you loved me."

"I do love you."

"How much?"

"I don't know!"

"Will you do something with me?"

"Depends what it is you're talking about."

Natsume whispered something in my ear. My jaw dropped and my eyes widened. _He had to be kidding._


	14. I wander if she wore polkadotted panties

(AN: O_o Wowiies 55 reviews, gee thanks guys! Lol, my beautiful reviewers, I love you all –blows kisses-

Hehe… In the last chapter I wanted it to sound like Natsume wanted sex (he doesn't he wants something else) but I wanted to see how many of you reviewed asking if that was what he whispered- it was like an experiment to see how many of my readers have dirty minds XD lol. I'm evil, I know -grins-

Thanks and keep Reading and reviewing.

Bring Solin The Horizon xoxo)

"Natsume we can't! Are you insane?"

"No. I'm a genius."

"What?! Why the hell does this make you a genius? It just makes you suicidal."

Natsume shrugged, "The most intelligent people are also the most insane ones."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "But..."

Natsume looked down sadly, "Don't worry okay? it was a stupid idea to ask you, I'm sorry."

I sighed, _why did he have to make me feel so freaking guilty?_

"Don't be sorry, it's fine. I just don't think it's going to work, that's all."

"Do you not think I have tried this before? I've learnt from my mistakes and I have this all planned. I know how w- I can do it."

I didn't like the way he changed "we" to "I".

"If you do it then I will too it's just-" I yawned, "Are you sure it will work?"

"Look, I know you're kind of tired, you can get some sleep. We'll talk in the morning. Okay? Good night."

"Good night."

Natsume pecked me on the cheek (Aww how sweet!) and let me rest while he kept still, showing no signs of planning to sleep any time soon.

**... **

_Ouch my head!_

I had a very rough night's sleep. The room was cold and I was still trying to convince myself that what I had seen a few hours ago was real. The people at this school _really_ do have alices._ I_ may even have one (or several) myself.

It all seemed so surreal. Could this be a dream? A drug-induced trip to coo-coo town? _Oh wait… I don't do drugs... _Aliens screwing with my mind? I snorted, really, what could explain this?

I got out of my (newly bought) bed and I showered. I dressed in a random plaid skirt and an inky vinyl bustier and I anchored my hair into two ponytails.

_Hmm… needs something more… _

I looped three silver necklaces around my neck, tugged on several bracelets, swiped my lips with a pale lipstick and spritzed my pulse points with perfume. _Perfect._

Natsume was already up- or maybe he hadn't gone to bed at all – I wasn't sure.

"Hey."

He jumped at the sound of my voice. He must have been day dreaming or something. "Sorry," I apologised, trying not to laugh. His face looked too serious and no-shit-tolerance-right-now.

"Speak to me Natsume!"

He looked at me with an expression I couldn't read. "I'm going to do it. On Halloween."

"Why at Halloween?"

"Because everyone is always distracted on Halloween. I'll have plenty of opportunity."

"Can I come?"

Natsume looked at me in surprise. "You really want to?"

"Sure- as long as you ask me nicely. Just once more." I grinned.

"Mikan, will you run away from the shithole with me?" he asked sounding sexier than ever.

"I do-" I said dreamily. Then I realised I was answering a question he wasn't asking, "Uhh… I mean Yes. I will!" I smiled embarrassed.

He laughed, "Great. Here's the plan."

…

_I had to admit, it was clever-my geeky little Natsume... He'd thought of just about everything. Huh, he wasn't as unintelligent as he looked… _

"I just want you to promise me something."

"What is it?"

"I want you to promise to trust me."

"I promise."

"Good. We're all sorted then."

I wrapped my hands around his. We sat for a while, not saying anything. "Is Hammy back yet?" I asked.

"Why do you call her that?"

"I don't know it's just easier to say. Is she back?"

"Probably."

"Are you in trouble?"

"Nah. I doubt it. I've done worse before."

"Tut, tut. Naughty boy."

Natsume rolled his eyes at me. I shoved him playfully and he shoved me back. Somehow we ended up wrestling on the floor, laughing our heads off.

I had him pinned to the ground and suddenly we stopped and Natsume's gaze met mine. My face moved closer to his and I kissed him softly on the lips.

It made me feel dizzy and I forgot all of the worry and doubt in my mind.

"Whatever you decide to do, I'll go along with it. I trust you."

Natsume didn't say anything. No, not a word… He just kissed me some more…

"Oh crap do you know what time it is?" Natsume asked.

No, I didn't. I'd totally lost track of time. With Natsume, every second passed all too quickly.

"I don't care."

"Are you not hungry?"

"Are you?"

"No."

"Then neither am I. The only thing I'm hungry for is more time with you."

"We have all the time in the world."

"It's not enough."

"Yeah, but we'll make the most of it. Then afterwards, our spirits will be together. We will never part, Mikan. I won't let anything separate us. Not anything at all."

He pecked me on the cheek. "Come on, let's go eat."

"You're hungry aren't you?"

"…Maybe."

I laughed at him.

When we got there, it was already ten minutes into dinnertime. Natsume held the door open for me but I refused to walk through it. "You first."

"Why?"

"I don't want you thinking I'm more important than you."

Natsume snorted, "I don't."

I glared at him.

"Go on!" he insisted.

"No, you go!"

"Both of you move!" A teacher yelled, angrily.

I blushed. "Sorry Sensei."

I walked through the door reluctantly and Natsume followed close behind me.

There was still a big queue but Natsume lead me to his table. _Eh?_

"Natsume, don't we need to….Oh I don't know…GET SOME FOOD?!" I asked.

He chuckled. "As if! Nah, when you're a G,* you get food delivered."

(*G = Gangsta)

He whispered something in a girl's ear, she giggled and went to the queue, but instead of waiting at the back, she pushed straight to the front, grabbed two trays of food and put them down by Natsume with a flirty grin.

He grinned back just as flirtatiously and the girl looked as thought she was going to faint. My eyes narrowed to tiny slits.

I didn't speak. Then, the girl walked away with a humongous smile on her face and she sat at a table gossiping with her friends.

"Oh. I forgot you had puppy dogs that did everything for you."

He chuckled darkly, "Yeah, you could say that…"

It took me a while to realise there was something wrong with what he just said. My spoon froze in mid air- "Wait, what do you mean 'you could say that'?" I asked.

"It's nothing."

"Tell me!"

"Natsume has an alice that makes everyone admire him- or at least we think it's an alice. We've never heard of anything else like it so it could just be blindness on everyone else's behalf. I mean seriously- who in their right mind would like Natsume?" Ruka asked jokingly.

"Oh, no offence Mikan," He added quickly.

"None taken."

Natsume glared at Ruka.

"Well I think it's my natural charm. After all, we don't see any girls falling head over heels for you do we?" Natsume asked.

"They want me. They're just shy."

"Yeah keep telling yourself that and maybe you'll manage to convince yourself."

The argument went on like this, back and forth, back and forth they took it in turns to insult each other. Eventually, some of Natsume's other friends joined in and it was like a wild tennis match, my eyes following the direction of the speaker.

In the end, my eyes hurt from moving around too much.

Natsume looked at me after a while. "There's only ten minutes left."

"Yeah?"

"You haven't eaten a thing."

I looked down at my still very full tray, it was only then that I realised I was so captivated by their conversation that I'd forgotten to eat. My stomach rumbled. I was starving.

I quickly shovelled the food into my mouth. I didn't feel at all self conscious, even though most of Natsume's friends were staring at me with disgusted expressions.

When I finished, I nudged Natsume. He looked at me and laughed.

"God Mikan you're such a messy eater!" he said wiping at my mouth with a napkin, trying to get the rib sauce I had just eaten off of my face.

"Aww how sweet, Natsume has a soft side to him!" Ruka teased.

Natsume's eyes were about to burn red, but he looked at me and he calmed down again. He ignored the comment and the snickers from his friends.

"I'm proud of you," I told him as we walked up to our dorm.

"What for?"

"For not getting angry back there, it used to be so easy to annoy you, and now you've got a lot more control.

"You're face makes me happy."

"_You_ make me happy."

We entered our dorm, and both sat exhaustedly on the couch. Time had passed at super speed today and I was extremely tired.

Neither of us spoke for a while so I began scratching at the wall beside me. _NXM 4 EVA. _

"What's that?" Natsume asked peering over me.

He read it and smiled, "That couldn't be truer."

I wrapped my arms around his neck and held him close to me. He held me back, just as tightly. When I loosened my grip I leaned against his chest and he whispered a story in my ear.

It was a story of a boy who met a beautiful princess and his world was transformed, it moved me. At the end he whispered, "That boy was me and you are my princess." He kissed my forehead and soon after, I fell asleep to the sound of his heartbeat.

When I woke up, I wasn't on the couch anymore; I was on Natsume's double bed. Natsume had his arm around me and his eyes were open. "Good morning Princess."

I stood up to find myself wearing one of Natsume's shirts.

"You didn't!"

"What? What's wrong?" Natsume asked.

"Last night, you-me-we did…"

His eyebrows were creased in confusion. When he realised what he was talking about he laughed hard. "What, no! But I bet you wish we did don't you?" He said grinning.

"No! Natsume this isn't funny!" I screamed shaking my fist.

"Yeah, sorry you're right." he said trying to fight off a burst of giggles, "Don't worry, I promise I didn't do anything to you. You fell asleep and I thought it would be kind of uncomfortable for you in your skirt and your tight top so I gave you my shirt. You put it on yourself, you were probably sleep-walking but hey, you insisted."

"So you haven't seen anything?"

"Like what?"

"You know…things I don't want you seeing." I said blushing embarrassedly.

"I didn't dress you; you dressed yourself so I didn't see a thing. No worries."

"Good." I smiled relieved.

"Why, are you hiding something?" he asked.

"No!" I said defensively. "What would I have to hide?"

"I've worked it out Mikan; you don't need to lie any more. It's okay. I know you're actually a boy."

"WHAT?! WHERE DID THAT COME FROM HUH? I'M NOT A FREAKING GUY! DO I LOOK LIKE A GUY? DO I SOUND LIKE A GUY? HUH? HUH!?" I asked outraged.

Natsume laughed at me, "Relax, I was joking!"

I growled at him.

He fell back onto the bed in laughter. "Prove to me you're a girl."

"How the hell do you want me to do that?!" I asked, still irritated by Natsume.

"Come here," he beckoned to me.

When I was just an arms length away from him he swooped me closer to himself and kissed me full on. His tongue gushing down my throat. His hands traced my neck and travelled downwards, his hands reached my lower back and sneaked beneath my shirt.

He undid my bra strap as I unbuttoned the shirt he had lent me. I undid the buttons on his shirt too. Natsume hesitated, "Are you sure you're okay with this?"

"Positive." And before I knew it, our skin was touching and our body's entwined.


	15. Run away love

(AN: I've just worked out what's going to happen at then end- because so far I've been making it up as I go along.

I think you'll like the end. It's kinda weird and unpredictable.

Thanks, keep reading x

Bring Solin The Horizon.

P.S. do you read my author notes? I was just wandering… Anyways mention it in your review if you do cos I feel like I'm speaking to myself!)

We skipped breakfast and lunch. We both fell asleep beside each other.

I woke up and watched Natsume's peaceful face. I don't know how long I watched him for before he eventually opened his eyes.

He smiled at me, his face looking irresistible. "Together forever." he whispered and kissed my forehead.

I sniffed; this was definitely the end of an era. A tear almost rolled out of my eyes.

"What's wrong?" Natsume asked concerned.

"Well… it's just that, now we're together-" sniff; sniff "I can't insult you anymore." Sniff.

He rolled his eyes, "Oh, the unbearable pain (!). Honestly Mikan, you're so melodramatic," Natsume said dryly.

"Can I still insult you Natsume? Please?" I begged playing up for the 'melodramatic' title he had given me.

"You're such an idiot."

A big smile appeared on my face, "You wouldn't have me any other way. Admit it."

"Well you know… if you were a bit more intelligent and a bit less…"

I stared at him, hurt burning in my face. Tears swelling up in the rims of my eyes.

Natsume's face looked worried, "Hey, no, I was joking! I love you how you are. You know that. You're my little idiot. Never change!"

I glared at him but I hugged his chest to let him know he was forgiven.

He held me tight and stroked my hair. "I can't wait to leave this place with you."

"Neither can I."

I'd never been happier in my life. I just felt really… well…words can't describe it. You have to feel it to understand it.

It was a magical sensation that I wished would last forever. Little did I know, in reality, it lasted all of twenty short, minutes.

"What day is it?" I suddenly asked. I hadn't seen a calendar since I got here. I had no idea what day it was.

"October 29th"

"WHAT?!" The answer shocked me. Could it be that late already?

"What? What's wrong?"

"T- Two…Two days left?"

"Yes."

_Oh crap! It's too soon, I've only known him for two months, we could get caught… _My mind explored all of the reasons why I shouldn't go. I still wanted to though; my mind was rarely my decision-maker.

"You still want to do it right?" Natsume asked.

"Yes." I said firmly, managing a smile.

I jumped out of his hold suddenly.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Well, I'd better start packing right?"

"Already? Oh yeah I forgot, you have to fold everything don't you?" He chuckled.

I glared at him and grabbed a shirt; I folded it as slowly as possible and put it at the base of my bag.

He yawned and rolled his eyes, I threw a spare toothbrush at him. He ducked it easily.

"You'd better stop complaining or you'll have to try and dodge a flying shoe."

"Yes ma'am!" he said saluting me and standing up straight like a soldier.

"You are such an idiot."

"How kind of you to notice," he replied in a false sugar sweet tone.

"You're very fucking welcome." I said through gritted teeth.

"Hey I'm going to go to the snack shop. Do you want anything?" Natsume asked after a while of watching me.

"Nope."

"How about a lollipop? So that you can practise your sucking."

"I think you would benefit more from the practise to be honest _babe_"

He shrugged and ignored the last part of my comment "Suit yourself."

"Thank you, I will."

He left in silence, slamming the door behind him.

_Pfft… What a girl…_

I packed most of my clothes, ready for Tuesday. I really didn't know what to expect, I guess I'd just have to go with the flow.

I heard the door open; Natsume wouldn't be back already would he?

I quickly hid the bag, just in case.

"Hi, hi!" came a cheerful voice.

_God… If I'm supposed to die, now would be a good time._

"Hey!" I forced myself to say.

"What'cha doing?" Anna asked.

"Don't you knock?" I snapped, sounding angrier than I meant to.

"I-Umm… sorry I just missed you. I can go if you want…" She frowned sadly.

_Aww man… She had to make me feel guilty didn't she?_

"No! Wait Anna I'm sorry!" I grabbed her arm and stopped her from leaving.

The frown quickly vanished from her face and she smiled, "Great!"

_Either she was a very good actor or she could forgive as often as she changed underwear._

"Reverse physcology: never fails." She grinned proudly.

I narrowed my eyes at her.

She laughed and hugged me.

"So…What's new? I haven't spoken to you all weekend. What have you been up to?" She asked.

_Was it okay to tell Anna? _I wasn't sure, so I kept my mouth shut.

"Not a lot."

Oh she grinned, "Are you going to ask me what I've been up to?" she asked eagerly.

Sometimes I wander if she only asks me things so I'll ask them back. Huh.

I rolled my eyes, "What have you been up to?" I asked reluctantly.

"Well… I was singing quietly to myself on the field on my own- I was waiting for my friends- and anyway, then a boy I've been crushing on for a looonnnggg time came up to me and complimented me. He was totally hot and- he was one of the prefects like Natsume! How cool is that?!" She squealed excited.

I snorted, "Wait, Natsume's a prefect?"

"You didn't know that?"

"No, it never came up."

"Really? I always thought Natsume was the kind of guy that liked to brag- well brag to you anyway. He doesn't really brag to anyone else.

He didn't usually say much at all come to think of it, not until you got here. Well he did a bit when he first got here but after his second year he changed- Nobody knows what happened. Everyone found him cute and mysterious. Especially me I thought he was so-…." She stopped when she realised what she had just been saying. She blushed. "Sorry I'm just rambling." She laughed nervously.

"Yeah you are." I joked.

"I mean, I know Natsume's yours now, so I have no right to him. I won't lay a finger on him. I mean – not that I want to. Wait, I'm not saying he is ugly- he's freaking hot but…"

"The more you speak the digger the hole you're digging for yourself."

"I'll just shut up."

I nodded "Good plan."

She crossed her hand over her mouth as if zipping it up. We stared at each other for a while and burst into laughter.

"Okay this isn't working out."

"Really?" I didn't notice."

"You don't have to be sarcastic!" She said flicking me.

"Hey!" I flicked her back.

We erupted into a mass of flicking each other. We were laughing and mock fighting- just having a good time.

_I'm really gonna miss this girl time. _

The door opened, and Natsume walked in. "Are you finished?" he huffed, kicking the door shut aggressively.

"Finished what?" 

He hesitated and looked at Anna annoyed.

"Umm… We've got some private stuff to talk about so if you don't mind…" I said to her.

"Nope, not at all." She grinned, staying in place.

"Private. That means get out!" Natsume said, raising his voice.

"Oh sorry!" Anna's face flushed and she quickly exited the room.

"We're going right now. I can't wait any longer. Have you packed?"

"Well I was half done but then Anna came in and-"

"HURRY PACK!" He yelled. His fists shaking and his whole face turning red with fury.

"What's wrong?" I asked

"NOTHING!"

_PMS much? _I chuckled quietly to myself.

Natsume pulled out a bag and dumped a load of his clothes inside. He was finished in about four minutes.

He watched me irritated. "Just shove them in!"

I stopped folding the clothes and I put them in carelessly. When I tried to zip it up it wouldn't work. Natsume looked as if he were about to explode.

He pushed me aside impatiently and zipped up the bag. "There, now come on! We're leaving. Now."

"No." I whispered.

"What?!" He screamed, agony burning in his voice.

"I want to go, but not like this. Not when you are so angry. What's happened?" I asked.

"I'M NOT ANGRY!" He screamed. His face was screwed up and I could tell he was suppressing from doing something stupid- like punching the wall. He looked down at the floor.

"You are."

His gaze went up and suddenly, flames were coming out of his eyes and they were directed right at me.

They hit me at impeccable speed with a burning unbearable pain. My face throbbed in the heat and I fell back, my head clashing against the wall. I was unable to cry, yet a thousand tears came to me.

_How could he?_

I didn't even care about the pain; all I could think of was that he had hurt me. Me; the person he claimed he loved. I was crying on the inside.

Natsume stood there in shock, watching me. Unable to move. He stood still as a statue for a while. He snapped out of his trance and rushed over, shaking me.

"Mikan! Mikan, I'm sorry! I didn't do that. I wasn't in control myself."

I didn't respond. I couldn't.

"Speak to me please, I'm sorry." He kissed my forehead gently.

"Don't kiss me!" I screamed at him, underestimating the pain on my face. "Ouch!" I grabbed my swollen left cheek which was burning like a fiery pit of pain.

"Shh, don't speak." He stroked my fringe out of my face.

"How could you?" I cried, trying to move my mouth as little as possible.

"I didn't- I was trying to fight it. I wasn't in control of anything I was doing."

"Stop! Just stop okay? You hurt me and you can't even admit it. You're nothing but a coward."

"I didn't hurt you Mikan." He insisted.

I shook my head in disbelief. _He couldn't even own up to it…How pathetic. _

"Oh so was someone else in control when you hurt Luna too? Did somebody slip into your body, huh?"

Natsume didn't say anything. He looked down at the floor guiltily.

"I don't know what happened. But I swear to you Mikan, I would never purposely hurt you."

I didn't know what to believe. When he hurt me, it just seemed so real. So like him. But I wanted to believe him. Wanted it so badly…

"Can you just let me be alone for a bit please?"

Natsume hesitated, "-Yeah, okay." He agreed.

He went out of the room in no hurry. I pulled my legs up and hugged them with my arms, curling myself up.

What should I do? Was Na- "Hello Mikan."

I turned to the direction of a familiar, regal voice.

Hammy was standing at the window, grinning and watching me.

_How did she get here?_

She dragged a chair over to where I was sitting, leaving a mark on the carpet. She sat in front of me with one leg over the other. Today, she wore a pair of smart black trousers and a black jacket, she looked well dressed but casual.

I didn't say anything, I just watched her cautiously.

"How are you, my darling?" She asked.

I gritted my teeth and I didn't reply.

"That's a nasty bruise on your cheek. What happened?" She asked, sounding sickeningly sweet and caring.

"Nothing." I mumbled.

"So it had nothing to do with a certain young boy's fire alice?" she asked.

I didn't say anything.

"Actually it didn't- not exactly" she said answering her own question. "You see Mikan, I have a transformation alice. It allows me to change into and/or control any other human or animal that I please.

It come's in pretty handy sometimes, as you can see."

"Wait- it – you did that?!" I asked outraged.

She chuckled, "You finally worked it out? I thought I would have to give you more hints. Ah well… At least you're not slow today."

"What exactly do you want from me?" I asked rudely, not caring if she hurt me.

She wasn't angry at me, "Well, seeing as you're not slow, I see no reason to be slow either. I'll get right down to it. I have a favour to ask."

I raised one eyebrow. _This doesn't sound good._

"I heard that you and Natsume were planning to run away. And I'll be honest with you; I was really disappointed at Natsume. I'm surprised he would want to leave after all I've done for him."

"All you've done for him!? He fucking hates your guts!" I yelled, still unable to care about her retaliating.

"Oh, you think so? I must get him to change his opinion of me. Oh well… I've got plenty of time for that later. When you're gone."

I gulped, "When I'm gone?"

"Don't be so scared sweetheart; I'm not going to hurt you. Not as long as you're willing to go along with my plan."

I glared at her. _What an evil bitch!_

"What plan?" I asked.

"There's not a lot to it. Really. All you have to do if you want to protect Natsume is tell him you want to leave alone and that you think it'd be better if he stayed here. Make sure he stays though. Because if he doesn't, there'll be consequences for the both of you. Got it?"

"No! I will not lie to him!"

"Even if it means hurting him?"

"I'll be hurting him by convincing to stay! He hates it here."

"What's worse, physical pain or staying where he belongs?" She questioned.

I tried to change tactics, "Don't you want what's best for your grandson?"

"I know what's best."

"Do you? Do you really? Why don't you just listen to him? You can't expect him to love you if you don't even take the time to find out what he wants. Did you ever think of that?" I challenged.

"He does love me!"

"Does he?"

"I'm not going to argue with you. I'm telling you that if you really love him, you would go. Today. Right now. As soon as I leave.

Tell him you don't love him and that you want to get out of here. If you care about him, you would get over your selfish desire to be with him and you would leave him here."

"And what if I don't do that?" I asked.

She got out of her chair and bent down to my level, she tilted my chin with a sharp pointy finger. She clutched my jaw and forced my head aggressively to turn to the side.

"I'm a very dangerous person when I want to be." She whispered into my ear.


End file.
